Verstappen: Not up to me to stop Dutch F1 fans booing Hamilton

Following their controversial collision at Silverstone, Hamilton has been booed by sections of the crowd in both Hungary and Belgium, with both events attended by large amounts of Verstappen supporters.

And they are expected to be out in full force at Zandvoort this weekend at the first Dutch Grand Prix since 1985.

“I look at it like this: when you go to a football match, you come into the home ground, the opposition will be booed at some point,” Verstappen said when asked if he felt he needed to ask his fans to behave themselves.

“It’s not up to the local club to go on to the speakers and say ‘guys, you cannot boo’, because it will naturally happen. Also in football, they are very passionate and they support their local team.

“I don’t think it’s up to me to then say ‘guys you cannot boo’ because at the end of the day I am not them and I have to just focus on what I am doing on the track.

“I am pretty sure that most of them are here for a great weekend to see cars racing and of course, some of them will boo. I cannot decide for them.

“Like you say you can do it and say ‘you cannot do this’, but do you really think they’re going to listen to me? I just hope that they will have a good weekend.”

Asked if any booing for Hamilton would give him an extra boost, Verstappen replied: "That would be bad if that would give me an added boost.

“As long as it doesn’t affect Lewis I guess that’s what you want to hear, right? That’s the most important.

“What I hope from the whole weekend is that everyone is having a good time and they enjoy seeing the cars on the track. Seeing us battle it out there for the best possible result.”

After being declared the winner of the abandoned Belgian Grand Prix, Verstappen comes into his home race just three points behind Hamilton. Victory will move the Red Bull driver back into the lead of the championship, regardless of where his main rival finishes.

"It’s very difficult because we have no information from previous years," Verstappen said of Red Bull's chances at Zandvoort. "It’s a bit of guessing what to do to start the weekend but after FP1 you have a bit more of a clearer picture of what direction you want to go into in terms of setup work and then it will evolve.

"It can be really good, it can be not as good but I think so far, for this whole year, we have been competitive, sometimes fighting for the win, sometimes a podium and let’s hope we can do something similar here."