Lewis Hamilton criticises fans cheering qualifying crash ahead of Austrian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton has criticised fans who cheered when he slid into the barriers during Q3 ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix.

The Austrian crowd were showing their full support for Max Verstappen who snatched a world championship from Hamilton last season that sparked a fierce rivalry between the two drivers.

Last week, at the Silverstone Grand Prix, fans booed Verstappen, and in Spielberg on Saturday a section of fans cheered as Hamilton after he slid off the track.

But the seven-time champion said there was ‘never an excuse’ for cheering a crash.

“I don’t agree or condone any of that, no matter what,” said Hamilton. “A driver could have been in hospital and you are going to cheer that?”

“It is mind-blowing that people would do that, knowing how dangerous our sport is. I am grateful I wasn’t in hospital and wasn’t injured.

“You should never cheer someone’s downfall, someone’s injury or crash.”

And regarding the behaviour of fans at Silverstone last week, Hamilton added: “It shouldn’t have happened at Silverstone, and it shouldn’t have happened here.”

Mercedes drivers Hamilton and George Russell struggled in qualifying and finished ninth and fourth respectively.

Hamilton made up one position ahead of Sunday’s race during Saturday’s 24-lap sprint, while Russell held on to keep fourth.

And Hamilton confessed the Sprint taught him little about the car’s capabilities.

“I didn’t learn anything necessarily… except that we’re slower than the Haas on the straights!” Hamilton said.

“We’ve got to wait to get out of the DRS train [tomorrow] to try and reposition our car.”

Russell agreed that Mercedes were off the pace, and even further behind than they thought.

“We didn’t expect to have the pace of Red Bull and Ferrari but we were probably a little bit further behind than we anticipated,” Russell added to Sky Sports F1.

“I think [Sergio] Perez is a realistic battle we can have but there is only a limited amount you can do overnight. You can’t change the set-up, you just have to learn about the tyres and what you did well and what you can improve on.”