Christian Horner says ‘F1 always has heroes and villains’ amid fans booing Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen

Red Bull boss Christian Horner believes that Formula 1 will ‘always have heroes and villains’ amid the fan controversies at the British and Austrian Grand Prix.

At Silverstone, Red Bull driver Max Verstappen was routinely booed throughout the weekend by British fans in response to the Dutchman’s fierce rivalry with home favourite Sir Lewis Hamilton.

It has also been suggested that the jeers were motivated by Verstappen’s close relationship to former world champion Nelson Piquet who used racist and homophobic language to describe Hamilton in footage that emerged in the build-up to the race.

Verstappen condemned Piquet’s comments but claimed that the Brazilian was ‘definitely not a racist.’

At the next grand prix in Austria, it was Hamilton’s turn to be on the receiving end of boos as thousands of the Orange Army, the nickname for Verstappen supporters, descended upon the Red Bull Ring.

These fans went so far as to cheer when the Mercedes driver crashed out of qualifying on Friday, something that received criticism from pundits as well as Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, and his counterpart Horner has now expressed his thoughts on the matter.

‘Fan support is polarised, and you see that in other sports,’ he said.

‘You see that when you get record crowds attending and new audiences coming into the sport. We’re breaking records at every grand prix we go to. Formula 1’s popularity has increased.

‘With so many new fans coming into the sport, you’re always going to have heroes and villains from circuit to circuit. In terms of preference for a driver or a team, that is always going to happen.

‘Actually, I was pleased to hear on the podium that there was – certainly from where I was stood – no booing for Lewis and there was respect for all the