Max Verstappen’s F1 fans misbehave in Spielberg
All weekend it rained reports about misconduct from Dutch fans in Spielberg. F1 and the FIA have enjoyed it. “These are real F1 fans”, Max Verstappen does not have his supporters.
Marc Cornelissen
A few social media posts snowballed on a mob of complaints about spectator misconduct in Spielberg. About 105,000 spectators were present on the Austrian circuit on Sunday, 60,000 of whom were Dutch, who gave the circuit an orange tint. Most of them behaved exemplary, but a minority imagined themselves on holiday in Lloret de Mar or Hersonissos. Men’s witnesses tell how a young ice cream star was constantly harassed by drunk. How women were called after with chants like “There’s gotta be a dick in there”. A girl says her dress was pulled up and she was groped. A black man got the N-word flung at her head. “Fans of Lewis Hamilton don’t deserve respect,” someone was told.
That kind of sexist and racist behavior came from a drunk minority, but the cheers when Lewis Hamilton crashed on Friday was massive. Just as massive as the booing when Max Verstappen got out of his car in Silverstone last week. incidents have happened more often around F1 races, but never so massive and so bad. F1 and the FIA have therefore planned for Saturday.
Also Lewis Hamilton in his pen: “Disappointed and disappointed to hear that some fans are being developed with racist, homophobic and abusive behaviour. Attending a GP should never be a source of fear or pain. Races should be safe for everyone. If you see this, report it to security and F1. We cannot let this happen.”
Max Verstappen agreed with his rivals from last year for once. “These are not real Formula 1 fans. They don’t enjoy what is happening now. We now have a lot of good drivers competing with each other, how can you experience that afterwards? But they can’t appreciate that and that’s a shame. Those people don’t like the sport. I’ve read some shocking things. A normal person should not be able to behave like that. Sometimes it’s time to go to bed and stop drinking. You can do stupid things with alcohol, but that’s no excuse.”
Sebastian Vettel called on F1 to ban the concerned supporters from F1 for life.