Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli has received more than 1,100 hateful messages including death threats after the Qatar Grand Prix, with the 19-year-old changing his Instagram profile to an all-black image
Mercedes Formula 1 driver Kimi Antonelli has blacked out his social media platforms after being bombarded with death threats and over 1,100 vile messages following the Qatar Grand Prix. The 19-year-old was targeted by repugnant trolls due to a late mishap in Sunday’s race that saw him veer off course, allowing Lando Norris to pass him.
As a result of this, Norris bagged two additional points which could prove pivotal in the championship race. He is currently 12 points ahead of Max Verstappen, who clinched the Qatar race, meaning the Brit only needs to secure third place in the Abu Dhabi finale this weekend to be crowned world champion, regardless of the Dutchman’s performance.
Shortly after the race ended, it was noticed that Antonelli had altered his Instagram profile, swapping his usual picture for an all-black image. This sparked rumours that the young driver might be the victim of online abuse, sadly, Mirror Sport understands this to be true.
It’s believed that more than 1,100 harsh comments have been flagged on Kimi’s personal social media accounts, with approximately 330 more instances found on the Mercedes team’s pages. Several of these offensive remarks are understood to include threats of death or harm towards the 19-year-old.
The team is preparing to submit all the offensive remarks it has gathered to the FIA, which runs its own United Against Online Abuse initiative. This follows comments from two high-ranking Red Bull bosses suggesting that Antonelli may have made things easy for Norris, who races for McLaren, a team powered by Mercedes engines.
Verstappen’s race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, expressed his confusion to the Dutch driver over the radio moments after the incident, saying: “I am not sure what happened to Antonelli there. It looked like he just pulled over and let Lando through.” Helmut Marko, a long-standing team advisor, even claimed post-race that it was “so obvious” that the young driver had allowed Norris to pass without resistance.
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Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff swiftly dismissed these insinuations and criticised Marko harshly, revealing that he had already spoken with Lambiase to clarify the situation. The Austrian stated: “This is total, utter nonsense that blows my mind. We are fighting for second in the constructors’ championship, which is important for us. Kimi is fighting for a potential third in the race.
“I mean, how brainless can you be to even say something like this? And it annoys me. Because I’m annoyed with the race itself, how it went. I’m annoyed with the mistake at the end. I’m annoyed with other mistakes. And then hearing such nonsense blows my mind. I spoke to GP [Lambiase]. Obviously, they were emotional in that moment.
“I said to him, ‘He [Antonelli] just went off. He had a bit of a moment in the previous corner and then less entry speed into the left-hander. It can happen’. So with GP everything is clear. We cleared the air. He said that he didn’t see the situation. But why would we do this? Why would we even think about interfering in a driver championship? You really need to check yourself and whether you are seeing ghosts.”
Red Bull issued a statement on Monday morning expressing “regretted” over remarks that sparked online abuse directed at Antonelli. The statement read: “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.”
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