Hamilton portrays himself as Jesus - Villeneuve

Lewis Hamilton should not be surprised when he is sometimes booed.

That is the view of outspoken 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve. At Hockenheim last weekend, Mercedes’ British driver was booed at times during the driver parade.

"Lewis should not be surprised," Villeneuve is quoted by Auto Bild.

"He confuses formula one with Hollywood. Everything he does is staged.

"He portrays himself on social media like he is Jesus. The way he knelt next to his car after his problem in qualifying looked like the suffering of Christ. And what he said afterwards was the Sermon on the Mount.

"Then he gestured so dramatically on the podium that everyone could see who sent the sudden rain," Villeneuve said.

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff, however, wants Hamilton to remain being himself.

After watching the TV replay of the German grand prix, Hamilton wrote on social media that he thought Sky’s ex-driver pundits could not find "a good word to say" about him.

He deleted the Instagram post.

But Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff told the Sun: "I actually encouraged him to leave all that stuff online and speak his mind.

"It is what we need. We need to create stories. We need controversies. We need polarising stances," he added.