Lewis Hamilton has called on F1 fans not to boo team-mate Nico Rosberg, believing that the British supporters are far better than that.
Following the final lap collision between Rosberg and Hamilton at the Austrian Grand Prix, which stewards deemed the German had been responsible for, the crowd in Spielberg jeered the current world champion when drivers took to the podium after the race.
A similar situation was then played out at the British Grand Prix this weekend, though not on such a scale, when a few members of the crowd could be heard booing Rosberg amidst the cheers.
Hamilton admitted he had tried to calm the fans down, hoping that British supporters would rise above that sort of behaviour and be more sporting towards their favourite driver or teams rivals.
“I feel like we are better than that. I didn’t really hear a lot of boos. But what you just have to understand is they are mad, passionate fans and something wasn’t right in the last one.
“Maybe when I get to Germany, maybe we will have the same thing. I hope not, because I think in sport in general it’s just not the done thing.
“If I went to a football game and the other team won, I would never boo the other team because they did a better job and that’s real sportsmanship.”
Rosberg himself shrugged the jeering aside, stating that it was only a small minority of supporters that had chosen to make their disapproval heard, and he felt like he had actually received strong support from the majority of the British crowd across the Silverstone weekend.
“I don’t want to catch on to those 15, 20 people or more that dislike me. Much more I should mention how much I appreciate the majority of the people who were supporting me. That’s pretty awesome to see coming to here.
“It just shows the racing spirit they have here. Not only do they love their British drivers but they appreciate passionate drivers who are out there doing their best…that’s quite unique.”
With just one point now splitting the Mercedes AMG PETRONAS team-mates in the drivers’ championship, the situation is likely to get more heated yet with over half the season still remaining, which leaves ample time for further incidents to occur between the two drivers and emotions to run high!
