‘They need to be educated’: Toto Wolff angrily responds to Dutch fans cheering Lewis Hamilton’s crash
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Toto Wolff
Mercedes had a disappointing end to a qualifying session that had begun with so much promise. For a while, it seemed that both George Russell and Lewis Hamilton will at least fight for pole position, but that did not materialize, as both crashed out of the race in dramatic fashion.
The crash of both the drivers disrupted the sessions, as red flags came out. All in all, George Russell will be starting fifth on the grid for the sprint race, while Lewis Hamilton will start 10th. There was another incident during the qualifying session. As Lewis Hamilton hit the barriers, bringing, an end to his qualifying session, some Dutch fans cheered.
Perhaps they did so as a sort of symbolic revenge. When Max Verstappen crashed out from the race in Silverstone after his contact with Lewis Hamilton, they were some cheers heard from the stands. Both occasions have been equally controversial, and has added more fuel to the fire and provoked more animosity between fans of the two racing drivers.
Also Read: Toto Wolff: “I think we are getting on top of the bouncing”
Toto Wolff on fans cheering crashes: ‘Nobody should do it’
In an interview with Sky Sports, Toto Wolff expressed his displeasure at the cheers following Lewis Hamilton’s crash: “We just need to speak more to the fans cheering when a car is in the wall or booing a driver who gives an interview.”
He added that he does not support ‘this’ type of behavior at all: “It’s not what we would do with our competitors and enemies even though you would think there is some animosity out there. Nobody should actually do it, we need to work collectively with F1 and you guys to educate people.”
Toto Wolff said that the drivers did not have any cause to ‘beat themselves up’ from crashing out, and said that sometimes when drivers push hard, these things happen. Mercedes have looked much faster in the races, and if they were in the hunt for pole position in qualifying, even if they didn’t get it, that is a very positive sign for the races.
In any case, the potential three-way battle holds the promise of a very exciting sprint and feature race. Austria has delivered many times on this front before, and fans will be hoping that it is the case again. Mercedes fans will be delighted to see them compete with Red Bull and Ferrari again, as they had done in Silverstone.
Also Read: Toto Wolff: The win was ‘in sight’ for Lewis Hamilton in Silverstone
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Aniket Tripathi
(1002 Articles Published)