Hamilton angry at cheering fans: "Grateful I'm not in hospital"

Lewis Hamilton has been critical of the spectators who applauded his crash in qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix. He called the behaviour 'mind-blowing' and said it 'should not have happened'.

Some of the fans present at the Red Bull Ring cheered when Hamilton lost the rear of his Mercedes during qualifying on Friday and skidded off the track. The Briton says he did not hear the cheers himself "because he was going through a lot of stuff" during his crash but says he disapproves of the crowd's behaviour, according to Crash.net.

"A driver could have been in hospital. And you are going to cheer that?", the Mercedes driver said indignantly. "It is just mind-blowing that people would do that, knowing how dangerous our sport is. I am grateful that I wasn’t in hospital and I wasn’t heavily injured."

The 37-year-old Briton added that it is never right to "cheer someone's downfall or injury". When reminded of the similar behaviour displayed by spectators at Silverstone towards Max Verstappen, Hamilton concluded, "It shouldn’t have happened at Silverstone, and it shouldn’t have happened here."