Verstappen would be "shot" for Hamilton-like event absence

Hamilton has defended his decision to miss F1 Live in London on Wednesday, an event the 19 other current F1 drivers all attended in the build-up to the British Grand Prix.

The Mercedes driver said he needed to take a break after the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring, which Verstappen said he understood.

However, the 19-year-old said attending these sort of fans events is important for drivers, whether they are local or not.

"From Lewis's side, if he wants a holiday, he needs to take a holiday," Verstappen said at Silverstone on Thursday.

"If it makes him faster he should do that. But, of course, I think English fans would have liked to see him there."

"If I did that in Holland, they would have shot me," he joked. "It's good to do those things.

"It was a great event, a lot of people turned up and we did some doughnuts, even though it was not allowed."

Asked if he would consider taking a holiday between back-to-back races, Verstappen replied: "If you need it. Everybody is different."

Hamilton said he would make it clear "how much I appreciate and respect" the effort fans make to attend the British Grand Prix, and said he already did "everything I can to genuinely connect" with his supporters.

During the drivers' parade for the previous race at the Red Bull Ring, Verstappen fired T-shirts into a grandstand filled exclusively with his fans and visited some who were camping at the track.

He said he was expecting more support at Silverstone.

"[There was] a lot of orange [in Austria], it was good to see," he said. "It's always a boost when you have a lot of fans around.

"I wish I had a Dutch Grand Prix, but here a lot of English fans are coming. Last year the support was great, especially when I overtook Nico [Rosberg].

"It was good for the championship and I could see a lot of English fans cheering."

Additional reporting by Erwin Jaeggi