Red Bull's Antonelli claim sparks call for FIA punishment review

An F1 star has hinted that a review of off-track FIA punishments might be needed ahead of the new season, following an incident involving Red Bull and Kimi Antonelli last year.

At the Qatar Grand Prix, Antonelli suffered a huge snap of oversteer on the final lap of the race, which allowed Lando Norris to sneak through and take fourth position.

With Norris in a fierce championship battle with Max Verstappen - who had won the race - Red Bull were up in arms about it, with Gianpiero Lambiase suggesting that Antonelli had let Norris through for fourth.

While the onboard footage showed this was absolutely not the case with Antonelli almost completely losing control of his car, former Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko doubled down on the comments against Antonelli, saying: "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."

19-year-old Antonelli then suffered vile social media abuse from fans online, and turned his profile picture black in response. Red Bull issued a swift apology, while Lambiase also personally apologised to Mercedes boss Toto Wolff and Antonelli.

F1 star Franco Colapinto, however, believed that was not enough, stating that the FIA should have punished Red Bull for their comments about Antonelli, in the same way that F1 stars are punished for swearing in press conferences.

Speaking at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Colapinto said: "I was just thinking about the fines we receive for using profanity on television or in the media, compared to people who speak quickly without thinking, without having all the information or the overall situation, and who make statements that consequently generate hatred. It’s much worse than when we use profanity or anything else.

"This creates a much bigger problem, and they face no consequences. They simply issue a statement, and everything goes back to normal. I don't know, it all seems unfair to me. Perhaps it should change, perhaps not; it's not up to me to decide, so I won't get too involved, but it's probably something that deserves to be revisited."

FIA punishments for driver swearing

As Colapinto mentioned, the FIA clamp down hard on drivers who use 'unnecessary' bad language.

In 2024, Verstappen was handed a community service-style punishment for swearing in a press conference, while Ferrari star Charles Leclerc also received a fine for swearing in a press conference at the end of the 2024 season.

World Rally Championship (WRC) driver Adrien Fourmaux was also fined €10,000 and hit with a suspended €20,000 fine for using 'inappropriate language' during a TV interview earlier in 2025, prompting a row between WRC drivers, co-drivers and the FIA.

The FIA have relaxed that rule slightly, however, and in 2025 it was announced that the maximum penalty for a breach of the swearing regulations would be halved from €10,000 to €5,000, while exceptions would be made for language used 'on-track' as opposed to in a 'controlled environment' such as a press conference.

It remains to be seen whether they bring in a rule surrounding drivers and team members who might say something which inadvertently leads to another driver or team member receiving online hate from fans, but the FIA do have their United Against Online Abuse project which seeks to point out and condemn online hate.

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