Lewis Hamilton Says Booing Fuels Him After Negative Reception At Hungary GP

Lewis Hamilton earned his 101st pole position on Saturday afternoon and then said the booing fans at the Austrian Grand Prix had only fueled him.

Hamilton beat Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas to pole, with Red Bull's Max Verstappen starting on the second row in third.

The defending world champion was involved in a controversial incident with driver's championship leader Verstappen at the British Grand Prix two weeks ago, when the two collided on the first lap.

Hamilton went on to win his home race but was criticised by Red Bull for being disrespectful to Verstappen, who'd gone to hospital, during his celebration, though it was later confirmed Hamilton and Mercedes knew their rival had been cleared.

On Saturday, the pair were vying to start Sunday's race from the front and Hungaroring. It was Hamilton who drove his lap fastest, but instead of cheers from the fans he was met with booing.

However the seven time world champion wasn't phased at all and threw a curve ball at the disgruntled fans, telling them they were feuling him.

There was still some controversy. As the lead racers went out for their final runs, Hamilton slowed down to get himself in free air.

The British driver's actions meant that Verstappen's teammate Sergio Perez failed to cross the start finish line in time to have one last qualifying lap.

Christian Horner, who'd been extremely critical of the crash two weeks ago, played down the incident, saying, "Lewis has got a hell of a lap in the bank and then obviously he's just backing things up and obviously doesn't want to give our cars a clean run.

"But it's his right to do that, he's got the track position, so we haven't got a major issue. It's all about tomorrow now."

After the session Hamilton was once again asked about the incident at Silverstone but his Dutch rival intervened to try and put an end to the question.

It'll be interesting to see how the race unfolds on Sunday, especially with the Red Bulls both on the soft tyre and the Mercedes on the medium.

Will Hamilton and Verstappen go wheel to wheel again?