Lewis Hamilton has lashed out at Max Verstappen‘s fans, saying it’s “mind-boggling” that they cheered his crash at the Austrian Grand Prix. Hamilton crashed into the tyre wall in qualifying on Friday night after losing control of his Mercedes at 140mph.

The British driver started ninth and finished a place higher in Saturday’s sprint race. He was left unharmed. But Verstappen’s fans had gathered to celebrate his fatal accident.

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“I don’t agree with any of that,” Hamilton said. “You’re going to cheer for a driver who is in the hospital?” It’s incredible that people would do something like that knowing how dangerous our sport is. I was relieved that I did not end up in the hospital.” I wasn’t seriously hurt”, said the 7-time World Champion.

In just the last race at Silverstone, Verstappen was often booed by the British crowd as he came forward to give his interviews.

Both Hamilton and Verstappen have come forward and said that ‘the people who boo the race drivers are not fans’.

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What is the history of fans booing in Formula 1?

The most popular motorsport has seen many rivalries between great drivers over history. Be it inter-team rivalries or intra-team rivalry, fans of one driver have tried their level best to distract the other drivers into making a mistake.

Initially, it was Alain Prost and Aryton Senna. Then came Schumacher and Damon Hill. Fans across the board were seen as a big element in making the driver’s strategic mistakes and often resulted in them being hated by their rivals.

In the modern era, there is no greater animosity between fans than that between Hamilton and Verstappen. Because of the controversial result of last year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Hamilton fans have taken it upon themselves to boo and curse at the Dutch driver.

The Dutch fans have also not let this go easily and have taken shots at whatever moment they saw on Hamilton.

It will be interesting to see for how long will this rivalry go and to what extent will the fans go in order to support their favorite driver.