Sir Lewis Hamilton was booed on several occasions over the course of the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend, with many Max Verstappen fans feeling that the seven-time World Champion deserved a harsher penalty for the incident involving him and the Dutch ace at Silverstone.
British motorsport journalist Tom Clarkson has said he believes the boos weren’t malicious, but nevertheless described them as a “bit disappointing.”
READ: ‘He Is Not British, So It Will Always Be More Difficult For Him’: Alonso Says Of Verstappen
“I don’t think it was malicious, it was just that directly in front of parc ferme and the podium was the orange army,” Clarkson said on the F1 Nation podcast, which he hosts.
“They had their own grandstand, and it was orange. So anything they said or did was what Lewis could hear more than anything else when he was in that bit of the pit lane.
“As I said, I don’t think it was malicious. I think it was just nonsense, really, and just a bit disappointing.”
Speaking on the same podcast, 1996 World Champion Damon Hill called on Dutch fans to be “nice” to Verstappen’s Championship challenger.
READ: Marko Questions Hamilton’s Alonso Criticism After ‘Shooting Out’ Verstappen
“Dutch fans, be nice to Lewis, will you?” Hill said.
“Because he’s doing what he’s good at, and it’s going be fun. It’s going to be good. Because we’ve got a lot of listeners in Holland, who listen to us.
“They’re good sports, the Dutch. It’ll be great to have a Dutch Grand Prix, the first ever Dutch Grand Prix for how many years.”
Hamilton currently has an eight-point advantage over Verstappen at the top of the Drivers’ Standings, but the Dutch driver will have plenty of opportunities to retake P1 in the Championship after the summer break.
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