Toto Wolff - "Football" booing has "no place" in F1

Hungarian Grand Prix

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Wolff - "Football" booing has "no place" in F1

Hamilton was booed heavily by the Hungarian GP crowd

Ewan Gale

Sunday 1 August 2021 08:00 Updated: 10:23

Toto Wolff has insisted 'football-like' booing has "no place" in F1 after Lewis Hamilton was subjected to jeers following qualifying in Hungary.

Hamilton was in stunning form to qualify fastest at the Hungaroring as Valtteri Bottas completed a front-row lock-out for Mercedes with Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez unable to touch the Silver Arrows.

The British driver was greeted with a barrage of booing and jeering from a grandstand of Verstappen fans during his parc fermé interview after claims of "gamesmanship" on his slow final out lap of the session.

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"I think that booing has no place in the sport but you have also got to recognise emotions have been very high in the last few weeks and the grandstands are packed with Dutch fans," said Wolff.

"Nobody likes that and people that have done sports competitively will never understand why that is.

"You hear that in football stadiums and you hear that in the grandstands. It was an orange grandstand.

"I would say the booing is an archaic instinct that shouldn't be a part of the sport but it also shows how passionate the fans are.

"Tribal instinct isn't necessarily something bad, I very much have that instinct for the team too.

"If it were tribal, if they were passionate, if they were applauding and screaming for the drivers, that would be great. I think the booing has no place in sports."

Mercedes fuelled by "adversity"

Hamilton announced during the jeers that the booing "fuels me" despite interviewer Johnny Herbert's best attempts to bring a halt to the atmosphere.

Comparing Hamilton to six-time NBA champion Michael Jordan, Wolff added: "You see how much energy Michael Jordan was able to extract from negativity and it made him go extra hard and extra good.

"I think Lewis is not too dissimilar of that. Me and the team need that. The more adversity we face, the more resilient we become and the more competitive we perform.

"On one hand, it is irrelevant and on the other hand, you want to prove a point even more?

"I think it is a consequence of the events of the last few weeks.

"The [Silverstone] incident was controversial, was polarising, ignited and we see the consequences of the emotional expressions of the grandstands, emotional outbursts."