As reported by Formula1News, Max Verstappen received another round of jeers from the crowd after winning his 15th race of the campaign at the season finale in Abu Dhabi.
The 2022 season was well summarized by the Abu Dhabi GP, as Max Verstappen won the pole position in qualifying and then cruised to win the race with little to no resistance or challenges.
Red Bull clinched the constructors’ title but missed out on their first-ever one-two finish in the drivers’ championship as Charles Leclerc placed higher than Sergio Perez and thereby scored more points as result in the Abu Dhabi GP.
Just after the race, Perez said that his teammate had hindered him in his duel with the Monegasque driver and former Dutch Formula 1 driver Jan Lammers dismissed Perez’s allegation straight away.
Lammers said: “I thought it was a very unique statement when he said Max held him up. I thought it was a little crazy,”
“He got too much out of his tyres at the start and paid the price. Max is so consistent with his times that sometimes Perez pushes too hard, while Max just neatly does his laps like clockwork.”
Verstappen receives criticism regularly for his aggressive racing tactics. He frequently pushes himself to the edge in his quest for victory, which occasionally results in collisions with other drivers.
According to Lammers, the Dutchman is a once-in-a-generation talent, and what the public is really seeing is the final product of a complete racer. Lammers added: “Fans of other drivers may blame him for sometimes attacking or defending too hard, but he’s a racer through and through,”
“So I’m very aware of how special what we are seeing now is and how inspiring he is to so many people.”
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The 25-year-old was booed throughout the post-race interview with Jenson Button following the Abu Dhabi GP, which isn’t the first time he’s had a hostile response from the audience.
Lammers has issued a warning to fans, claiming that Verstappen has been negatively impacted by their inappropriate behavior, which has absolutely no business in Formula 1.
Lammers said: “When it happens, I think I see a kind of sadness in his eyes. He’s just talking but you can see him thinking ‘What’s this?’ I think that’s sad, but luckily he can rise above it and perform above it,”
Verstappen likely received such a harsh welcome in Abu Dhabi as a reaction to his controversial championship victory at the venue in 2021. Supporters should keep in mind the Dutchman shouldn’t be held responsible for how the race turned out because he did not change the safety car procedure.
