Lewis Hamilton loudly booed by F1 fans after taking pole in Hungary with interviewer pleading with them to stop
LEWIS HAMILTON lapped up the booing mob as he took the 101st pole position of his career.
The world champion’s bitter feud with Red Bull rival Max Verstappen has spilled over into the grandstands at the Hungaroring, with the Dutchman’s orange army backing their driver.
There were banners in the stands; one said “Sir Cheat: Karam is on its way!” as they blame the Brit for taking out their hero at Silverstone.
But Hamilton, who is going in search of his 100th Formula One victory, took it on the chin as Verstappen blew his top as tempers boiled over.
Former F1 driver Johnny Herbert tried to quell the boo-boys as he interviewed the pole-sitter, but Hamilton said: “People have a right. This is a sport and people act wildly. It is sport, it is a competition and I don’t take it to heart.
“In the end, I must be doing something right to be up the front!
“I appreciate the great support I’ve had here. I’ve never actually felt so great with the booing. If anything, it just fuels me. So I don’t really mind.”
Hamilton, who put in a stunning first lap to cement pole for a race he hopes to win for a record ninth time, as neither Valtteri Bottas, who starts second, or Verstappen could better his time.
Verstappen, who will line up behind Hamilton on the gird in P3 but on the grippy soft tyre, says he never heard the booing as he was in the team’s garage.
However, he snapped during a press conference when asked about the lap one crash in the British Grand Prix that resulted in him being sent to hospital for checks.
He snapped: “Can we just stop this. We have had so many f****** questions about this that it is ridiculous.
“The whole Thursday we have been answering this stupid s*** all the time so can we just stop it please? We are racers so we are going to race hard but fair.”
Hamilton smirked at the Red Bull man’s out-burst as he sensed the pressure building in their battle for the F1 crown. His teammate Bottas did however hear the jeers and urged those who heckled think about their actions.
He said: “I don’t normally say about these kind of things, or what I think, but I heard a lot of booing at the end of qualifying and I don’t understand it.
“I would like the people to question themselves and their behaviour because I don’t think it is fair.
“We are here as athletes to give everything we have for the sport we love and Lewis did an amazing lap and then you get booing so the people should question themselves.”
Meanwhile, Hamilton is refusing to get too carried away about being the first F1 driver to reach triple figures for victories.
He already has more wins than any driver in the sport’s 71-year history and not thinking about the latest landmark in his career.
He added: “With everything going on around us, with the outside world, but we are staying focused so I am really proud of everyone in the team.
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“I don’t know what win number 100 would mean. We have not ever completed half the job.
“It is a long race, we don’t know what the weather is like around us, it is such a challenging circuit and the whole top four will not be easy to beat.
“We have a long run down to Turn One, especially if the temperatures are like this, so it should be an exciting race.”
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