Lewis Hamilton will head into his home race at Silverstone amid a cloud of local booing.

At Formula 1's London demonstration event on Wednesday, the Mercedes driver's countrymen booed at the mention of his name as Hamilton was the only active F1 driver missing at the event.

"We invited teams and drivers to join us and had a fantastic response from all the teams and 19 drivers," the sport's owner Liberty Media declared.

Earlier, Hamilton had said that he would miss the event in favour of a holiday.

"As Lewis posted on social media, he is on a short break until Silverstone," a Mercedes spokesperson said.

Title rival Sebastian Vettel said in London: "I don't know why he's not here."

Hamilton's boss Toto Wolff explained: "Lewis feels he is in such a tough championship fight that he needed the days off after Austria."

Mercedes are looking to extend their 33-point lead over second-placed Ferrari this weekend.