Lewis Hamilton says the “cheering” after his crash in final practice at Spa led him to warn some fans do not appreciate the dangers of racing.
The Mercedes driver wrote a post on social media on Saturday evening following death of Anthoine Hubert in a Formula 2 crash saying: “All these drivers put their life on the line when they hit the track and people need to appreciate that in a serious way because it is not appreciated enough. Not from the fans nor some of the people actually working in the sport.”Speaking after yesterday’s race Hamilton said the crowd reaction to his crash earlier in the day had prompted the comments. “When I crashed there were some fans yelling, cheering or something like that and it was quite a decent hit, that’s what encouraged me to say the things I said at the end of the day,” he told Sky.
“Yesterday was a very, very tough day,” said Hamilton. “And even today just coming here. But I had to go out there and we all had to try and clear our thoughts and race with Anthoine in spirit.”
“To come here today it was really hard to believe we’ve lost a great racing driver yesterday and the world just continues on,” he added. “But the race was going on so you have to get in the car and go and do the job. I raced with him and his family in my thoughts and prayers today.”
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Valinor
2nd September 2019, 12:48
No Lewis, people can actually see the difference between a very serious crash and one thats a simple loss of control and a bump into the tyre wall.
Your crash was hard but exactly the type of crash where all the security measures are meant for. So yes people will cheer.
David BR (@david-br)
2nd September 2019, 13:20
Congratulations for the most asinine comment of the day.
OOliver
2nd September 2019, 13:37
You can never know the effect a seemingly benign crash has on a driver until he gets the all clear.
Human frailty can not be taken for granted.
We have been lulled into the false belief that the cars are will always protect the drivers from any impact, as such we always expect drivers to walk away from an accident despite being buried deep in a tyre wall.
Ajaxn
2nd September 2019, 17:47
Here here. F1 cars are now being driven as hard as they have ever been driven. Every other race there’s a new track record which stands as testiment to forces on these cars and on these drivers. Despite the strenght of the mono cockpit, despite innovations like the Halo, drivers still risk everything when they go out there to entertain us. F1 is perhaps the most dangerous sport out there.
Mike
2nd September 2019, 21:14
So true, even Senna’s crashed at first looked like something he would have walked away from at first.
Xcm
2nd September 2019, 22:17
The real perfect example of this is Earnhardt sr’s crash.
Hugh (@hugh11)
2nd September 2019, 13:55
Things can break from the most innocuous of incidents.
James
2nd September 2019, 14:06
People thought Massa’s crash was standard (if a little weird…) – you never know until the driver is out of the car
Fantomius (@liko41)
2nd September 2019, 14:15
@Valinor
People like you are exactly the kind of persons motorsport doesn’t need.
Get lost.
Lulu
2nd September 2019, 20:20
Carlos Medrano (@carlosmedrano)
2nd September 2019, 14:31
It was probably the dutch fans they are so cringe inducing and annoying, they only care about max
CarWars (@maxv)
2nd September 2019, 18:46
@carlosmedrano I am Dutch, and i agree. Those are not F1 fans, they are the same people that show up when the national football team is near a final.
Matthijs (@matthijs)
2nd September 2019, 14:37
@david-br @liko41 I think you overreact. When you see a crash, you instanly try to judge whether it is a serious crash or not. Valinor just explains that the crowd probably didn’t think Hamilton hurt himself. Whether it is cool to cheer when a driver crashes is another matter, but I don’t believe that anyone in the crowd wanted or even thought Hamilton got seriously hurt.
@carlosmedrano You probably missed the orange mass (along with fans with other nationalities) giving Hubert a standing applause at lap 19, long after Verstappen was out.
Fantomius (@liko41)
2nd September 2019, 15:00
@matthijs
I think I didn’t.
Cheering when someone goes out is definitely NOT a part of motorsport.
Never been.
Matthijs (@matthijs)
2nd September 2019, 15:20
@liko41 I don’t like it when people cheer for crashes, but you must admit that crashes are part of motorsport, in fact a very entertaining part of motorsport. As long as there is no hatred involved, then I think that you overreact.
Qeki
2nd September 2019, 15:10
The audiences reaction was just a pure excitement. That is one side of motorsport. Of course as @matthjis said people don’t want to get anyone hurt. When you are at some racing venue and there’s a crash it’s part of the sport. You don’t cheer for accidents you feel the passion.
David BR (@david-br)
2nd September 2019, 17:11
@matthijs It starts with the ‘No Lewis’ as though ‘Valinor’ occupies some kind of superior position from which to patronize someone who has actually been taking these risks at the leading edge of his sport for years. Clearly fans are delighted when a rival makes a mistake, drops out of the race, collides etc., but cheering begins to trivialize harm and danger. It is a basic disrespect for what drivers are doing on track, the risks they’re taking. That’s the point Hamilton was making. You either get it or you don’t.
Matthijs (@matthijs)
2nd September 2019, 18:53
@david-br I get it.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
2nd September 2019, 19:16
whilst that is true, the attitude isn’t nice. to me fans sick of Lewis are not his fault but the press, the British press specifically sky is incredibly bias so it is hard not to want to hear Crofty suffer. unfortunately the workd feed, f1tv, f1 in north america, aus and other territories have to put up with a “neutral” commentating team that loves Ham and loves to hate Ferrari and Vettel.
Dom (@3dom)
2nd September 2019, 23:02
@peartree I don’t get the impression that the Sky F1 team dislike Vettel in any way. I only see respect for Vettel. They seem to just want Ferrari to do well imo. Vettel got plenty of praise when he was doing well (it hasn’t happened for a while now tho). Ham got plenty of criticism from them in 2011 when he kept having collisions. Sky F1 tend to laud drivers on a race by race basis. String several performances together and it increases, that’s why Ham is talked up by them atm.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
3rd September 2019, 0:27
@3dom sky didn’t broadcast in 2011. Fp sessions even during the weekend they gratuitously hammer Ferrari, they joke about it live, about Croft’s hate of red.
Dom (@3dom)
3rd September 2019, 6:32
@peartree my mistake about 2011, must have been bbc that I was watching back then, getting mixed up there because some of the Sky team worked there first.
I honestly haven’t noticed any animosity towards Ferrari tho, they seemed really excited about the prospect of a red win in monza next week
JMDan (@danmar)
2nd September 2019, 19:38
Were you one of the cheering fans?
koddamn (@gufdamm)
3rd September 2019, 0:01
Im sure Dale Ernhardt’s crash was “exactly the type of crash where all the security measures are meant for”. Your comment is silly and ignorant. In every racecar the human is and will continue to be the most fragile piece. we are always responding to tragedy, sometimes its obvious, sometimes its surprising. both the development of the HANS device and the halo were a result of obvious and surprising frailties of human life. Your mindset is incorrect. You just proved Lewis right, we do take the dangers of racing for granted. Cheering for/after a crash is the most glaring and disgusting example of this fact.
We want to see cars race, not crash.
Drop Sochi
2nd September 2019, 12:49
I wasn’t there, but the fans know the difference between a shunt and a serious crash. Nobody is laughing at the serious crashes.
bob (@riptide)
2nd September 2019, 13:42
No they don’t and only numpties would suggest such a thing. Particularly when they are buried out of site in a tyre wall.
Fantomius (@liko41)
2nd September 2019, 14:16
@Drop Sochi
Another “fan” who should get an education.
koddamn (@gufdamm)
3rd September 2019, 0:04
A shunt killed Dale Earnhardt. Stop being ignorant, a shunt or a serious crash can take a life, therefore we shouldn’t be cheering for either. Go watch WWE or something.
jhg103 (@joshgeake)
2nd September 2019, 12:50
People enjoy watching crashes and rubbernecking is a natural curiosity.
Sorry, that’s just how it is.
RP (@slotopen)
2nd September 2019, 13:10
Hamilton is taking a generous position here, that people don’t understand. As we saw with the cheering for Kevin Durant’s injury in the NBA finals, some people are just hateful and are happy to see people hurt if it helps their team.
Jeffrey (@jeffreyj)
2nd September 2019, 13:38
Agreed, but it also depends on how likable an athlete is.
KD is pretty full of himself and very sensitive to criticism. The whole reason he’s leaving his championship-winning teammates behind is that he actually cares that people say he got fake rings because he joined the already winningest team in NBA history. I’m not saying people are right to cheer for his injury, just saying he’s an unlikeable character to a lot of people.
This, for other reasons also applies a bit to Lewis. Also, Dutch media feeds into this narrative and downplays his performance relative to Verstappen at any chance they get. Those two factors combined with his crash happening right next to the Verstappen grandstand would always end in mocking Lewis.
Fantomius (@liko41)
2nd September 2019, 14:18
@jeffreyj
could well sinthesyze the whole comment with one word.
“Hàte”.
End of it.
Loen (@loen)
3rd September 2019, 11:25
Quite clear the attitude of people of ancient Rome who bayed for
and cheered vast gadiatorial bloodshed in the Colloseum to the skies
are alive and well, living in Europe, longing for more blood in Europe’s
modern sporting equivalent. Sickening. Chilling.
Witan
2nd September 2019, 13:17
Cheering when a shunt happens is not very sporting behaviour, whoever it is who crashes.
I can’t help but notice how the orange army behave in this respect. Perhaps it is noticeable because the cameras are on them as Verstappen is a focus for the selling of F1 at the moment. Perhaps others do the same.
There is one disturbing image in my head of a bearded man with his mouth open arms in the air braying in the middle of a orange jeering crowd when Vettel went off in Germany. He might have been injured. They didn’t wait to find out.
You want your driver to win, you cheer him or her on but relishing a driver crashing at any time and certainly before you know he is OK is not sporting.
MacLeod (@macleod)
2nd September 2019, 13:28
Germans and Dutch doesn’t goes well together with the age 50+ So the bearded man was 1 of the older persons? I don’t think they were all cheering maybe laughing at Vettel reaction when he was out of the car.
Belgium, Normal the orange army is like the one of the Dutch natinal football team very supportive and joyfull. While the most fans where at radilion and beyond and saw the accident. I found them very respectfull and supportive like the clapping in the WHOLE 19th round of F1.
Where Lewis crashed i didn’t saw any countrymen (No orange of blue t-shirts) but i was on the otherside at the time so i didn’t saw them when i walked past.
erikje
2nd September 2019, 13:29
The same crowd that applauded for tonio in lap 19.
And cheered for passings during the race, even without Ver in the race.
They are called fans.
G (@unklegsif)
2nd September 2019, 19:53
Completely different and missing the point
At that point, on lap 19, EVERYBODY knew what had happened and how bad it had been.
When Lewis crashed, NOBODY know how bad it was, and to say otherwise is false – until you see the driver get out and walk away, you just dont know
G
erikje
2nd September 2019, 20:09
the Lewis shunt is getting way more attention after the horrible crash later.
If you look at the reaction when Gio crashed, you noticed the reaction of the fans. No enthusiasm there.
LB (@burden93)
2nd September 2019, 13:26
I completely get what Hamilton is saying, you’re taking risks getting in the car, yet people are happy and cheering when you’re in a dangerous situation. And I’m sorry “It’s only a small shunt” (like said above) is not an excuse for it. When you go to a race, you see how fast these cars are actually go, these “small” shunts are not small – they’re still going at high speeds. If it was me or you in the car, I doubt we’d be saying it was small. Its only because of the training and strength of these guys that they can have impacts like that and be okay (the majority of the time).
bosyber (@bosyber)
3rd September 2019, 8:31
Have to agree @burden93 – to me it shows a bit of a football like ‘club/my driver’ tribal mentality, which, due to the dangers of the sport hasn’t traditionally been a big part of the sport, in my mind, apart from a core of Ferrari fans (and italian press).
But, having said that, there definitely was something of that from Spanish media and fans when Alonso entered the sport and found success (remember, too the ‘ape’ stuff against HAM in 2007, also downplayed by some as ‘just fans being fans’, which we see/hear in football stadiums as well), and now again with Verstappen, this time from Dutch fans, and sadly, the popular Dutch media as well as the broadcaster. I don’t really recall it that strongly from Schumacher fans (though maybe him gaining success so shortly after Senna’s death showed them early on how serious injury could be?) but, the fact a large part of them left when he did does point to a similar effect.
slowmo (@slowmo)
2nd September 2019, 13:27
Cheering any driver crashing is disrespectful to the sport and defending it is even worse…
erikje
2nd September 2019, 13:30
But enjoying the crashes collection at the end of the season is fun.
Hypocrisie rules I see.
bob (@riptide)
2nd September 2019, 13:46
So you assume because you enjoy crash collections everyone else does?
erikje
3rd September 2019, 21:31
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=f1+chrashes
look at the numbers there: millions of fans do. Do not be a hypocrite.
Dean
2nd September 2019, 16:38
You enjoyed and cheered VERs ridiculous crash on lap 1 then I assume?
Ram
2nd September 2019, 18:42
You enjoy the crash recordings you meant to say.
slowmo (@slowmo)
2nd September 2019, 21:19
Not everyone enjoys watching crashes, I’m pretty sure most on here would much rather watch a compilation of good overtakes over the year than crashes.
Xcm
2nd September 2019, 22:25
@slowmo
That’s like, your opinion man.
I think you don’t speak for me, or any other fans, beyond yourself.
Your damn right I cheer when Vettel or Verstappen crash out. Seen thousands of shunts in f1, only a couple induce injury, well below 5%, probably as low as 1%. Lewis has a right to comment on such, but other fans have no right to look down on people letting emotions of the sport out in the heat of action.
Spare me, holier-than-thou fans!
Ben Needham (@ben-n)
2nd September 2019, 13:50
This is an interesting one. Personally I would never cheer a crash, or boo a driver; I have too much respect for what they all do. However, am I excited when the championship leader crashes in FP3 and might not be able to take part in qualifying? You bet I am.
If I was in the grandstand, I wouldn’t dream of booing or cheering and I find it disappointing that some people are; but I’d certainly take part in some excitable mumbling with my fellow spectators about the ramifications of the crash.
I don’t think this is personal to Lewis Hamilton; I remember being at the circuit in 2013 when Sebastian Vettel was having the same boos after his few years of domination. People want the unexpected and they want to be entertained.
Crashes are inherently exciting for spectators; it’s a part of racing. Racing is dangerous, crashes and dangerous and the crowd should respect that until a driver is out of the car and ok. It is clear though within seconds whether a crash is serious, or potentially serious; notice the hush over the circuit the second the Hubert/Correa crash happened. People know.
macradar (@macradar)
2nd September 2019, 14:10
+One
I remember Michael going out in Monaco and I was happy that he had got his comeuppance for all his shenanigans in previous races but I certainly would not have cheered if he had been injured like when he broke his leg for example. That’s not what one cheers for.
I think for a lot of fans its a reflex response until they suddenly realise it might be serious at which point their reactions change almost immediately except for the truly sick and deranged.
Robbie (@robbie)
2nd September 2019, 14:44
@ben-n I think your’s is a very sensible response. I agree. Oh I don’t see anything wrong in what LH is saying, but I think you have a realistic take on how it is.
I think too there can be a bit of a complacency when it comes to offs or crashes because the cars and tracks are simply so darn safe these days that injuries let alone deaths are extremely rare. I wonder, during a race, if a fellow driver crashes out, is LH immediately on the radio asking for the condition of the driver? Likely not for most incidents because he like all of us can distinguish between what looked potentially fatal, and what the driver will likely walk away from, which is 99.9% of the time. If he were to pass the leader of the race having just gone off, and taken the lead himself, I’d bet his first reaction would be a little inside-cockpit fist pump, not oh dear I hope he’s all right.
Stubborn Swiss (@stubbornswiss)
2nd September 2019, 15:54
@robbie
“If he were to pass the leader of the race having just gone off, and taken the lead himself, I’d bet his first reaction would be a little inside-cockpit fist pump, not oh dear I hope he’s all right.”
Your dislike of Hamilton truly knows no bounds!
Ben Needham (@ben-n)
2nd September 2019, 16:40
@stubbornswiss – I think @robbie makes a valid comment and I don’t think it’s specific to Hamilton. Drivers such as Ricciardo (afraid I have no direct quote, but I think it was China 2018) have mentioned getting lucky from others having collisions, gaining an advantage from it and having a mini celebration in the cockpit.
Ignoring the specific driver, @robbie suggests that if you’re in 2nd and see the driver in front spin off, you’ll be happy to see it. Personally, I’d agree.
Stubborn Swiss (@stubbornswiss)
2nd September 2019, 16:46
@ben-n
“…… and I don’t think it’s specific to Hamilton.”
Totally agree with you here.
My problem with @robbie is that he makes EVERYTHING specific to Hamilton. Nothing new. It is a well known fact.
bosyber (@bosyber)
3rd September 2019, 8:33
@ben-n, yeah, spinning off, they might celebrate, but, seeing someone go into the barriers hard, they usually go on the radio ‘is he okay’.
Xcm
2nd September 2019, 23:55
@stubbornswiss nope! what he said is perfectly sane, and doesn’t show any anti LH bias…. TRY AGAIN!
…and I generally disagree/laugh at most of his comments!
Then you try to cling to your your wrong comment by claiming Robbie talks about Lewis too much… dude look at the headline! It’s a Lewis Hamilton news article!
Dean
2nd September 2019, 16:51
I expected no more from you Robbie. Any chance to have a sly dig at Lewis is joyfully accepted by you, even when he makes comments that are near on impossible to argue against. Bravo on being so predictable.
Robbie (@robbie)
2nd September 2019, 19:50
@stubbornswiss @Dean You two are the ones being LH-centric, ever the ones to chime in only ever to defend LH at all costs, so personally offended it’s laughable.
Exactly why would I not reference LH when this is an article about LH commenting on the topic at hand? In order not to disrupt your LH-fandom I should have given an example of any driver but LH in an article full of LH quotes? You guys are too much.
Just as aside if you were to check my posts overall you will see very little comment about LH, and amongst those comments very little that is negative, with the vast majority of my comments these days being about Max, RBR, and the new gen for 2021 pending. You should ask yourselves why you have gotten yourself so wound up about a poster who says so little about LH. Did you see that I supported his Neat Burger project? Where were you then to compliment me on my refreshing outlook towards LH? Lol lurking under a rock I suppose, only out to pounce on anything that shades LH in even just the remotest of ways.
Stubborn Swiss (@stubbornswiss)
2nd September 2019, 22:03
@robbie
“Just as aside if you were to check my posts overall you will see very little comment about LH, and amongst those comments very little that is negative”
Robbie, either you are totally delusional, in complete denial, or dislike Hamilton SO much you don’t even realize it (I’m sure there is a medical condition for that).
Anyone who has been on this forum long enough, knows how much you trash Hamilton and can’t help but to put him down in any and every situation. Gee…… I even remember when you used to trash him about his hair, and about how he dressed, and just about everything else personal about him. I don’t know how long posts are kept in this forum, but I know you know what I am talking about, and I’m sure others may still be here that remember what I am talking about.
Yes, I am a Hamilton fan, but I have NEVER come here to put down or trash talk another driver. Plus I did not respond to your post to defend Hamilton – on the contrary, I was only pointing out your bias towards him. But as is usual, you just can’t see that!
As I have said to you so many times, ‘I rest my case’.
Robbie (@robbie)
3rd September 2019, 0:07
@stubbornswiss You’ve haven’t a clue what you are talking about. You have read me completely wrongly because you have chosen to do so. Example, I’m quite sure I have not commented on his hair or dress. So look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself why you have to go to such inventions to create a hate towards me. As I said, you have read me wrong, likely because you have read into my comments what you choose.
Matthijs (@matthijs)
2nd September 2019, 15:23
@ben-n You summarize it better than I could.
Philip (@philipgb)
2nd September 2019, 13:59
I must say in all the time I’ve watched F1, seeing some spectacular crashes and watching the drivers get up and walk away, it does leave me with a sense that they won’t really get hurt when it comes down to it. Crashes like Alonso’s multiple barrel rolls in Melbourne 2016, Leclerc having a car fly at his head last year, you just have a sense everything is going to be fine because that’s what you’re used to seeing. When Bianchi had his crash in 2014 it looked like such a nothing incident and I never expected for a second that something quite serious had happened, let alone that it was ultimately going to be fatal.
So Hamilton is right, we’re incredibly used to seeing dramatic crashes barely even warrant a visit to the medical centre and even when they do drivers being cleared to drive again. It feels very foreign to consider the real dangers there are and how close to disaster some of the incidents probably are. I don’t think the people that cheer crashes are bad people, they’re just privileged to be fans in an era that the reality of how dangerous it is gets insulated from us.
James
2nd September 2019, 14:25
COTD
Martin
2nd September 2019, 15:44
The footage of Bianchi’s crash does not make it look like a nothing incident, it is horrific. Though it sounds like you are talking about the world feed broadcast during the race. That did not show Bianchi’s crash at all so you cannot really draw a conclusion there.
Philip (@philipgb)
2nd September 2019, 16:10
I am talking about my experience of watching the race live yes. I’ve never seen footage of the actual impact.
But like I said from watching the race live, remembering it was under safety car conditions and just seeing the coverage of the fact he’d had an off at that corner my experience at the time was thinking nothing of it, a car sliding off in the wet and looking mostly intact doesn’t register that something so horrible had happened especially given all the dramatic looking crashes we see where the driver climbs out and walks away.
At the time it seemed like a nothing incident, the commentators tone gradually became more somber, but it was only after the race when the news reports started that reality began setting in.
MXMXD (@mxmxd)
2nd September 2019, 14:01
On one hand, I sort of agree with Lewis. There shouldnt be such reactions when a driver hits a wall. Cheering after a driver beaches his car? No issue.
On the other hand, this isnt the first time Hamilton has some issues with fan reactions’ “against” him this season; he was clearly rattled in Canada.
macradar (@macradar)
2nd September 2019, 14:13
Hamilton has had a lot thrown at him in his career starting with his days in karting and a lot of it has been racial. That always hurts and it never goes away.
MXMXD (@mxmxd)
2nd September 2019, 15:20
@macradar I get that, but I cant remember an F1 driver having issues (and expressing these issues) with the reactions in the attendance.
Lewis is on the good side of the debate here as far as I’m concerned. Canada? Not so much.
Adam (@rocketpanda)
2nd September 2019, 14:32
Hamilton’s ‘off’ was clearly not a serious crash – he damaged some bodywork but it was obvious he was in no physical danger. The ‘cheering’ wasn’t to see him injured or a disrespect to the dangers of motorsport, I’d imagine it was just enjoying the idea that a driver they didn’t like may not be getting yet another pole position, yet another race win, etc. Taking some pleasure in someone’s misfortune and bad luck isn’t exactly the most moral of things to do but everyone indulges in it now and then – especially in sport.
Nobody is laughing or cheering at accidents where you can SEE it’s severe. When you know there’s a risk of injury or to life, and that difference is pretty obvious. I’m not certain that cheering at watching a bruised ego damaging a multi-million pound car is the same as wishing someone serious injury – I’d like to think people understand that difference.
JC
2nd September 2019, 14:52
There’s no such thing as “clearly not a serious crash” until the driver is out of the car and walking away, waving to the fans.
Any number of things can happen even at low speed – the human body is soft, tyre walls and the carbon fibre/metal construction around them are all much harder. We hope that the designed-in crumple zones and deceleration calculations etc are all correct, but sometimes they’re not.
Be a better fan for everybody’s sake. Wait til the driver is out walking away til (if you must) you jeer back.
DeVante
2nd September 2019, 19:14
Besides, you don’t know what caused the crash and the impact. It could be even a heart attack or something, not even related to the car itself.
erikje
2nd September 2019, 20:14
so, fans should wait till a official FIA statement confirms that the driver is okay?… ridiculous thought.
Xcm
3rd September 2019, 0:17
Well said. This is no differant than your average PC POLICE.
What’s next, outlawing showing of joy until a driver confirms not only his physical safety, but his feelings aren’t hurt either?
Get out of here! This is a sport! People said they wanted drivers to be gladiators! Gladiators died!
I don’t want drivers to die, but I respect them for taking those risks. From Lewis to Giovinazzi. Even drivers I root against, I would shake their hand and be in awe if I met them in person. That’s not being double faced, that’s being able to show respect.
JohnH (@johnrkh)
2nd September 2019, 14:42
Motor Racing has changed a lot over the last 100 yrs or so, especially when it comes to improving safety, but it’s still not safe. The so called fans who go to races just to see an accident have no place as far as I’m concerned.
Also RIP Jessi Combs who died just a few days earlier trying to beat her land speed record.
Xcm
3rd September 2019, 0:19
Rip jessi, she was a legend in the socal offroad racing scene… she was also a true role model for young ladies everywhere!
Neil (@neilosjames)
2nd September 2019, 14:57
It’s a good point, and this sort of cheering isn’t new. Seen people say that fans know when a crash could cause injury and respond according to that, but I don’t think that’s true at all.
I was at Silverstone in 1999 (Luffield area) and one of the loudest cheers of the weekend was when Schumacher went off and, unknown to anyone at the time, broke his legs. Rapidly eased off to silence after people realised how bad it was, but the initial response to what was shown on the screens was rather unfortunate. My recollection is that it didn’t actually look that bad either, at least on the big screen, live. Now, watching replays from multiple angles, it looks a lot worse but I still wouldn’t expect the driver to suffer an injury.
Especially when you’re there, you’ve got no way of knowing whether the car went in at just the wrong angle, or whatever else. But because F1 these days is so relatively safe, among many the default mindset to everything except the most massive crashes is ‘he crashed but he’s fine’, and the cheers from those who dislike that driver come out as an emotional response. Rational pondering of the impact comes second.
Esploratore (@esploratore)
3rd September 2019, 3:16
Weird, when I looked at it again the impact looks as bad as senna’s fatal crash.
HUHHII (@huhhii)
2nd September 2019, 15:12
No, Lews, no. Fans know a differerence between a normal crash and a serious crash. I was delighted to see Lewis crashing in FP3 too, because it was clear Hamilton is OK and it would only potentially ruin his race in best scenario. But I’m sure no one cheered when Hubert crashed. If it was Hamilton in Hubert’s place in that crash I wouldn’t cheer at all.
RB13
2nd September 2019, 15:18
Yeh but you’re just desparate for Bottas to scrape ahead somehow so you’ll cheer anything unfortunate that happens to Lewis or his car.
Martin
2nd September 2019, 15:47
No, they don’t.
Phylyp (@phylyp)
2nd September 2019, 15:26
LOL, I’m not walking into this again :)
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
2nd September 2019, 15:36
While crashes may be exciting, cheering any crash is repulsive, poor sportsmanship, and just plain wrong. It indicates that you believe the only way for your driver to win is for the competitors to crash out of the race. How sweet a victory is that?
Yaru
2nd September 2019, 16:08
I cheer whenever someone I don’t like or a rival of who I support crashes, as is the thing in general sports. I think one of the reasons why is because the sport feel safe than it had ever been.
Hubert’s crash and Hamilton’s comment made me reflect on that. I am reminded that the drivers while knowing it, are risking life and limb for their passion sure but also to entertain us. It made me remember that the sport is very dangerous and cheering for any chance of injury even if the driver looks okay is in bad taste.
Sad that it took the life of a driver and serious possibly permanant injuries on another to remind me of that.
GnosticBrian (@gnosticbrian)
2nd September 2019, 16:25
There is a video of Hamilton’s live reaction to Anthoine Hubert’s crash. Lewis shows immediate and deep concern. He could see that it was serious. Lewis has real class – something that his detractors lack.
Mr G
2nd September 2019, 23:34
And his fans it seems.
RB13
3rd September 2019, 9:53
And as the whole F1 community consists of basically one side or the other you’re saying the entire community lacks class. Great positivity Mr G…
Phylyp (@phylyp)
2nd September 2019, 16:58
@gnosticbrian – for me, one of the defining images is when Lewis passed Leclerc at Bahrain when the latter had PU issues: at the moment of the pass itself, Lewis raised a hand in an apologetic gesture towards Leclerc, almost as if to say “I’m sorry I’m passing you under these circumstances”. Although it wasn’t a crash, it was an in the moment, in the cockpit gesture. Very good sportsmanship.
GnosticBrian (@gnosticbrian)
2nd September 2019, 17:17
+1
Walter Bravenboer
2nd September 2019, 17:23
Of course Lewis has a point, but in the moment the big mass responds when they see the opponent fail; whoever that may be. Although Lewis has been dominating for so long, that some people love to seem him a bit further back.
But as a Dutch fan, a Max fan and a F1 fan, I do feel embarrassed by the behavior of some ‘orange fans’, it is something we see mostly in Football, and it is weird to see it in F1. In the FB groups you see them too, everything Max does is great and it is never his mistake. But luckily there are lots of real fans who acknowedge his failures and can also enjoy a good race without him. And Spa had a good race, and a truly deserved winner. The tragic events showed us however that there is a cost to this, and Lewis showed us in his comment that we are privileged to live in an era where accidents are an exception, I have seen the seventies, and the many horrific accidents that happened. The new fans this sport attracts are fantastic for the atmosphere, but there is always a division between the ‘personal’ fans and the ‘general’ fans, if I sometimes read the truly acid remarks about Max, I also shudder, but that is a part that is common in the current age of social media, where there is no ‘limiter’ between mouth and brain.
I am not a real Lewis fan, but I admire and respect his talents, he is the one in the spotlight and deservedly so. This weekend we saw a terrible tragedy, for many fans the first time they saw the price racers have to pay. We also saw a brave young man, a great talent and a future champion win his first race. Let’s hope that we live to see all those great and young talents go in the spotlight too.
Invisiblekid (@invisiblekid)
2nd September 2019, 18:19
It like his fans are on track personality…..of old. In a racing river, that’s fine. But as just a supporter, it’s TBO horrible to see. Sorry, thats just they I see it. If I was at a race, I’d give them a wide birth. I just couldn’t stand hearing the one sidedness.
DeVante
2nd September 2019, 19:20
Good for Lewis to bring this thing to the debate. I think people should be confronted with their bad behaviour so they can change it.
Winning at all cost is disgusting.
Mr G
2nd September 2019, 23:28
I only heard them cheering at repeated replays on big screen being played AFTER the crash when Lewis was already out of car and walking around having been checked on by marshalls. Bit different to what is being portrayed here. Not like Lewis to play the hero/victim card….. Let his death be about him Lewis, not you.
Edvaldo
3rd September 2019, 1:41
what a thin skinned guy, heh?
I never saw the crowd screaming and cheering when a serious crash takes place.
Small mistakes like his one are a completely different story. He was obviously not injured so the Verstappen’s fans felt like making some noise. No big deal.
I still want to see him facing situations like Senna retiring on Parabolica in 1989, and being insulted by the italian crowd and even thrown things at. Hamilton probably would cry right there.
I like the guy but he is a diva just like his former car.
RB13
3rd September 2019, 9:55
Right so the blatant racism and people in blackface with the sign saying HAMILTON’S FAMILY early in his career was nothing right?
Sit down, you have no idea what you’re talking about.
Edvaldo
3rd September 2019, 16:42
No, this was a different story. And unless you can prove the racism element is involved on his saturday crash, then stop with this right away.
If you ever went to a soccer match in your life you’ll understand.
Hamilton getting booed by Verstappen’s supporters doesn’t mean they doesn’t respect him and his feats. It’s just how it is. Vettel got booed a lot by FERRARI fans on his later days at Red Bull and i never read anything anywhere about him complaining about it. He is from “the other team” and that’s it. The same goes with Hamilton today.
wayne
3rd September 2019, 6:50
nothing wrong with being a little awe struck when seeing a crash. but cheering when some one crashes is very unsportsmanlike. and childish. no matter who you support. respect for life should be paramount. especially in instances like crashes where lives have been taken. both the small and big crashes.
Dale
5th September 2019, 12:11
Only one driver would take the death of another driver and somehow twist it to make it about himself …