Mercedes teenager Kimi Antonelli has been subjected to death threats after Red Bull suggested he deliberately moved out of Lando Norris’ way in the closing stages of the Qatar Grand Prix.
Norris was elevated to fourth after Antonelli ran wide on the penultimate lap of Sunday’s race.
Norris gained two points from Antonelli’s mistake which means he now can finish third, rather than runner-up at this weekend’s season finale in Abu Dhabi, to be assured of beating Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to the title.
Verstappen’s race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase told his driver, who won in Qatar, over the radio: “It looked like he (Antonelli) just pulled over and let Norris through.”
Red Bull’s motorsport adviser, Helmut Marko, was also critical of the 19-year-old rookie, claiming he “waved” Norris past.
Antonelli, who replaced Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes, has since turned his profile picture on Instagram black following a torrent of online attacks.
The Press Association has been told that Mercedes have identified “more than 1100 severe or suspect” comments – “several of which were death threats” – across Antonelli’s social media accounts.
An additional 330 “severe or suspect” comments were also flagged via Mercedes’ social media channels.
Mercedes have shared the figures with the FIA’s United Against Online Abuse campaign.
Red Bull were moved to issue an apology on Monday. A statement from Red Bull Racing 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
Read more on breakingnews.ie
breakingnews.ie
