Toto Wolff believes that fans should be discouraged from booing drivers, following the crowd reaction to Hamilton's crash in qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix. In Q3, both Mercedes drivers crashed out and caused two red flag periods, with George Russell and Lewis Hamilton finishing the session in fifth and 10th respectively. Whilst the F1 television feed did not pick up Hamilton's crash live, the directors soon switched to images of the stationary W13 after the incident happened. The international feed is also shown on various screens around the circuit and, as soon as the images of Hamilton's car were broadcast, they were met with cheering and celebrating from many sections of the grandstands. With a huge Dutch following at the Austrian GP, it could be concluded that the intensity of last season's Drivers' Championship battle between Hamilton and Max Verstappen is still felt across the fanbases. This incident follows on from similar complaints at last weekend's British Grand Prix, where Verstappen was cheered for a qualifying spin and booed in the post-race interviews.
Wolff: Nobody should boo the drivers
The booing and sarcastic cheering at the recent events has been widely criticised by teams and drivers. Hamilton spoke out against it at Silverstone, whilst Verstappen also claimed that he wouldn't encourage his own fans to boo or cheer a driver's incident. Wolff had a similar message for the Austrian GP crowd, and believed more could be done to educate the fans. "I think we just need to speak more to the fans [about] cheering when a car is in the wall, or booing for a driver that gives an interview," said Wolff to Sky Sports F1 . "It's not what we would do with our competitors and enemies, even though you would think that we would have some animosity out there [with them]. "Nobody should actually do it, so we need to collectively, with F1 and with you guys [media], educate people."
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