Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli has received an apology from Red Bull after being subjected to death threats following suggestions from Red Bull team members that he deliberately let Lando Norris overtake him at the Qatar Grand Prix.
During the final stages of the race, Norris overtook Antonelli for fourth place after the Italian made an error at turn nine and went wide through turn 10. This ensured Norris's advantage over Max Verstappen was 12 points rather than 10 going into the final race of the season.
After the race, Red Bull engineer Gianpiero Lambiase told Verstappen on the radio that Antonelli had “just pulled over and let Norris through”. Red Bull motorsport adviser Helmut Marko then said Antonelli had “waved” Norris past.
The 19-year-old Antonelli received a torrent of online abuse, turning his Instagram profile picture black. Mercedes identified over 1,100 “severe or suspect” comments on Antonelli’s social media, including several death threats, and a further 330 on their own accounts. The team reported the incidents to the FIA’s United Against Online Abuse campaign.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff called the comments “brainless” and “total utter nonsense”, and said he had confronted Lambiase, who apologised. On Monday, Red Bull issued a statement saying: “Comments made before the end of and immediately after the Qatar GP suggesting that Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli had deliberately allowed Lando Norris to overtake him are clearly incorrect. Replay footage shows Antonelli momentarily losing control of his car, thus allowing Norris to pass him. We sincerely regret that this has led to Kimi receiving online abuse.”
