Viral Supporters Burn Lewis Hamilton Merchandise, Max Verstappen: Really Disgusting

Red Bull Racing F1 driver Max Verstappen. (Photo: Twitter @redbullracing)

JAKARTA - Red Bull Racing driver, Max Verstappen, strongly condemns the actions of unscrupulous supporters who burned Lewis Hamilton's merchandise. The action was recorded in a video which later went viral on social media during the Hungarian Formula 1 (F1) GP.

Verstappen considered that this was unacceptable. He clearly did not agree with the actions of the unscrupulous fan.

"Individuals like this, I certainly don't agree with that because it's absolutely disgusting," Verstappen said, as quoted by Antara via Reuters.

Verstappen, who became the youngest grand prix winner and the first Dutch world champion, has a fan group dubbed the "Orange Army" who follow him around the world.

A video circulating on social media during the Hungarian Grand Prix shows a number of fans burning Hamilton's knick-knacks.

Prior to that, reports emerged that drunken male fans were violent against women, chanting homophobic and racist words at the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull home stadium where Verstappen's fans were packed earlier this month.

The next race in Belgium, Verstappen's birthplace, is another Orange Army fan base besides the Dutch GP at Zandvoort, which is the home of the 24-year-old driver, one week ago.

The incident in Austria prompted F1 to launch an anti-violent campaign called "Drive It Out" on Saturday.

Verstappen, along with Hamilton who finished runners-up that day, told a news conference that in general their fans respect each other.

"In general I think most of the fans... who were also cheering throughout the race and also on the podium for every rider, I think that should be the case," he said.

"The merchandising burning video, I think it's disgusting," he continued.