Lewis Hamilton snaps back at crowd after being booed at Mexico GP

Lewis Hamilton snapped back at the crowd as they directed boos at the seven-time champion after the Mexican Grand Prix. Hamilton secured P2 for the second weekend running but was unable to get past Max Verstappen who beat the record for the most F1 wins in a single season.However, the crowd started booing when Hamilton took the microphone to speak moments before the podium celebration. Hamilton reacted to the incident, commenting: ‘This has been an amazing crowd, definitely a bit awkward this time around with boos all day.”But, nevertheless I have so much love for Mexico and for the people here. What a great race and an event they’ve put on this weekend. I was so close in that first stint but I think the Red Bull was clearly too fast today and ultimately, maybe they had the better tyre strategy.”Mercedes opted to start on the medium tyres in a different strategy to the Red Bull’s who were on softs. Hamilton did threaten Verstappen during the opening stage of the race, maintaining a 1.5s gap to the Dutchman before the first round of pit stops. READ MORE: Martin Brundle told ‘I love you’ by random F1 fan on grid walk Lewis Hamilton hit back at the crowd in Mexico (Image: Sky Sports F1)Hamilton took the lead after Red Bull pitted for a new set of medium tyres but lost his advantage after the second round of stops. The Silver Arrows opted for a set of the hard compound tyre with Hamilton re-emerging from the pits around five seconds behind. Hamilton initially appeared to match Verstappen’s times early on but eventually dropped off the pace.The seven-time champion had fallen ten seconds behind his former title rival just 15 laps later. Hamilton took tio team radio to moan about Mercedes choice of tyres as he was put under pressure from the other Red Bull of Sergio Perez. He said: “This tyre is not as good as the medium.’DON’T MISSVerstappen’s Sky Sports F1 boycott ‘indefinite’ as Horner joins snub [COMMENT]Leclerc and Norris among drivers concerned after Mexican GP briefing [INSIGHT]Toto Wolff hits accuses Red Bull of ‘diverting attention’  [ANALYSIS] Lewis Hamilton was unable to get past Max Verstappen during the opening stages (Image: Getty)His race engineer, Peter Bonnington, appeared to explain Mercedes strategy was simply hoping Red Bull’s tyres faded off towards the end of the race. He responded: “Copy Lewis, we did see some drop off at the end of life.”Verstappen continued to extend the lead in the closing stages as Hamilton continued to question the team’s decision. Hamilton commented: ‘Are we on the wrong tyre mate?”Bonnington replied: “No Lewis, we think we’re on the right tyre, we’re going to get to the end on this, no sweat.” After the race, Wolff admitted to Hamilton over team radio that in hindsight they had chosen the wrong tyre.Hamilton also complained he was suffering from power dropouts at random intervals throughout the race. It will be a blow to Mercedes Wolff had claimed Mexico was their best chance of securing a race win season.