Max Verstappen slams 'disgusting' burning of Mercedes merchandise

Max Verstappen has slammed the minority of fans captured burning Mercedes merchandise, calling it ‘disgusting’.

Verstappen’s Red Bull team and the Mercedes garage were locked in a titanic tussle last year for both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ championships, of course, and unfortunately that has caused a level of bad blood between some supporters, which is not good to see.

Indeed, we’ve recently seen footage of Red Bull fans burning Mercedes merchandise and, after the Hungarian Grand Prix, the question was asked to Max for his response.

The Dutchman replied in strong terms, too, condemning the actions of the small minority:

“That’s of course not acceptable,” said Max.

“These individuals, I definitely don’t agree with that, because that’s just disgusting.

“But overall I think the majority of the fans were cheering a lot I think throughout the race and also on the podium, for every driver. I think that’s how it should be.

“Those videos, or video, of burning merchandise, I think that’s disgusting.”

Unfortunately, we’re seeing a lot of this in Formula 1 at the moment, with the Austrian Grand Prix earlier in July also seeing issues around homophobic abuse and sexism among others.

Indeed, in a response to that, F1 has launched the ‘Drive It Out’ campaign this weekend, in a bid to try and clamp down on those who want to spread hate both at the circuits and online, as well as in wider spheres.

It’s clear, though, there is a long way to go and it’s perhaps obvious that you’re never going to get everyone onside but that does not mean it shouldn’t be called out, and hopefully such actions become less and less of an occurrence as time goes by.

Max addressing the issue in such a strong manner is also good to see and is exactly what