Red Bull issue official apology after Kimi Antonelli abused online

Red Bull have expressed their 'sincere regret' that Kimi Antonelli was on the receiving end of threats and abuse after Sunday's F1 Qatar Grand Prix.

Both Max Verstappen's race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase and team advisor Helmut Marko suggested that the young Mercedes driver had moved aside to allow Lando Norris past him in the closing stages of the race, damaging Verstappen's championship hopes.

Replays showed fairly quickly that Norris had, in fact, taken advantage of a massive snap of oversteer from Antonelli which nearly caused him to lose control of his car completely.

While Lambiase – who spoke on the radio to Verstappen before seeing the incident for himself – happily accepted the real explanation when talking to Toto Wolff after the race, Marko doubled down on his insistence that Antonelli had opened the door for Norris on multiple occasions.

Red Bull: Antonelli clearly didn't allow Norris through on purpose

The state of social media being what it is, Antonelli was bombarded with over a thousand negative comments, ranging from a simple 'lost my respect' all the way up to vile abuse, and death threats.

He has since blacked out his profile picture on Instagram, and De Telegraaf report that Mercedes plan to share the abusive messages and threats with the FIA.

A Red Bull statement released on Monday morning 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."

Marko had said after the race: "It was twice where he more or less waved Lando by. It was so obvious. Antonelli now helps our main competitor, in Austria he was crashing [Verstappen] in the rear."

Mercedes team principal called Marko's comments 'brainless', to which the Red Bull advisor responded: "I'd be happy to counter that. People should take a look at it. It didn't just happen once."

Lambiase, meanwhile, had relayed to Verstappen on team radio that it appeared to him that Antonelli 'just pulled over and let Norris through'.

Marko has since apologised for his comments, and told F1-insider: "I took another close look at the footage.

"The first time, Antonelli could have held his ground a little better [as Oscar Piastri passed him into Turn 1]. The second time, it was a driving error and not intentional.

"I'm sorry that Antonelli got so much flak online. To clarify once again: he didn't let Norris pass on purpose."

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