Former F1 driver: 'I saw a kind of sadness in Verstappen's eyes'

Max Verstappen faced many booing fans at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The many Sergio Perez fans were still outraged that Verstappen refused to do him any favours in Brazil. Verstappen didn't show it, but Jan Lammers can't imagine it doesn't bother him.

Verstappen seems invincible at the moment and is enjoying it, but despite this, Lammers sometimes sympathises with the two-time world champion. By this he is referring to the booing Verstappen sometimes has to endure, such as at the past two races in Brazil and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

"I do feel a bit sorry for him at times when he gets booed. Then I think: 'What's the guy actually doing wrong? What do you want from a racing driver?' If you really are a motorsport fan, how much better do you want it?", says Lammers on the NOS Formula 1-podcast.

If it did rattle Verstappen he did not show it, but the former F1 driver still thought he detected some kind of reaction. "I still have the impression that I see a kind of sadness in his eyes. He talks, but then he also looks around and thinks, 'What 's going on?'"

Lammers finds such behaviour from the public incomprehensible and cites an event that took place at Zandvoort a few years ago as an example of how it can be the other way around. Daniel Ricciardo, then Verstappen's teammate, was welcomed there with open arms and much enthusiasm. The analyst does add that the Australian is more or less enforcing that reaction himself. "I still think it's sad, but fortunately he can rise above it and perform above it," Lammers concluded.