Daniel Ricciardo has blasted fans who cheer after crashes claiming they could never “experience” what it does to a driver.
Last weekend in Spa, Lewis Hamilton went off at the Fagnes chicane in final practice triggering cheers from predominantly Max Verstappen fans in the grandstands with every replay.
That was just hours before the fatal incident of Anthoine Hubert in F2 with the world champion himself later posting a message via Instagram claiming fans were “mistaken” if they thought motorsport is safe.
“Whether you like someone or not, it is not nice to cheer for someone’s downfall or mistake,” Ricciardo said ahead of the Italian GP.
“He [Lewis Hamilton] thinks the crowd assume the crash happened and we are OK or whatever, and it is not like that.
“Every time we go on track there is a risk and every time we do hit a wall, whether we are OK or not, it still plays something on your mind when you crash.
“Every time you go back to that corner, maybe there is something psychological there.
“So it does have an impact one way or the other, physically or mentally and I guess that is where he was coming from with that.”
While Hamilton is well known to be a polarising figure among fans, Ricciardo insists that still shouldn’t prevent them respecting drivers who they may not like.
“It is also so hard because the fan, unless you race and put yourself in that position, they never experience what we do,” he continued.
“It is just the nature of being a fan of a sport you don’t compete in. It is hard to grasp or understand.
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“All we can ask for is that if you are a fan, then be a true fan and respect what we do: not only the skill but also the risk.
“I don’t wish it upon anyone and I only knew it happened with Lewis because I read that he said it had,” he added.
“Having rivals and whatever, yeah, you don’t have to like every driver, but to behave like that, you would expect it from kids but not adults. You would hope they would behave better.”