Reigning World Champion Max Verstappen has added his voice to the situation that is seeing not only the Red Bull driver booed at certain circuits, but Lewis Hamilton receiving the same treatment at others.
At the British Grand Prix, Verstappen was booed by fans whenever he appeared, until Hamilton spoke up about it and told them it was not right to treat any of the drivers this way, regardless of who they supported.
Less than seven days later, they are at Red Bull's home race in Austria, which is playing host to the second Sprint race of the 2022 season.
When Hamilton crashed out of Q3 on Friday afternoon, followed by teammate George Russell shortly afterwards, the crowd erupted with cheers and booing as the drivers climbed from their stricken Mercedes cars.
Footage panned across where fans could be seen celebrating the fact that the British duo were out of contention for pole position in the Sprint race.
Verstappen questions why fans are booing drivers
"Those people are not really F1 fans," Verstappen told The Guardian.
"They cannot really enjoy what is actually happening right now, a lot of great drivers actually fighting against each other. But they cannot appreciate that and that’s a bit of a shame.
"How many times do you get to experience stuff like that? Such an intense rivalry or fights. These people are not lovers of the sport."
While Verstappen is not in the middle of an intense battle with Hamilton this season, he has been fighting it out with the Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz for the past 10 Grand Prix weekends.
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Verstappen enjoying 2022 F1 battle with Leclerc
And although the Dutchman has more respect for Leclerc after racing against him in the junior formulas, he doesn't care who he faces, as long as he is the one winning.
"I don't mind as long as I come out on top. That's the most important feeling," he added.
"There are a lot of good drivers in F1 and when you are battling them it's a lot of fun. It's all about margins, how much you respect each other on track.
"I know Charles for a long period of time, I have raced a lot more against him, so I guess we understand each other a bit better."
Also interesting:
F1 Podcast: Ferrari win – but did they botch their strategy again?
RacingNews365.com F1 journalists Dieter Rencken and Michael Butterworth discuss the key topics from the British Grand Prix, including Ferrari's questionable strategy calls.
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