The 19-year-old lost fourth place to Lando Norris on the penultimate lap at Lusail when he ran wide while defending and chasing Carlos Sainz for a podium.
The slip allowed Norris through for two crucial championship points, sparking unfounded accusations that Antonelli had moved aside intentionally.
Those claims — amplified by remarks from Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko and an initial radio comment from Max Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase — quickly spiralled into a barrage of vitriol on Antonelli’s social channels.
Mercedes said more than 1100 “severe or suspect comments” were flagged on his accounts, including death threats, with more than 330 similar messages directed at the team. Antonelli has since blacked out his social media profiles.
View this post on Instagram
Mercedes confirmed it will present the comments to the FIA as part of the governing body’s United Against Online Abuse initiative. The FIA issued its own statement condemning the situation, declaring it “stands in support of Kimi Antonelli” and urging the wider community to show “respect and compassion”.
Red Bull also moved to correct the record after Lambiase’s initial assumption that Antonelli had “just pulled over and let Norris through”.
“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,” the team said in a statement.
“Replay footage shows Antonelli momentarily losing control of his car, thus allowing Norris to pass him.
“We sincerely regret that this has led to Antonelli receiving online abuse.”
Marko backtracked as well after originally telling Sky Germany it was “too obvious” the Mercedes driver had “waved past” Norris. He later told F1-Insider that after reviewing the incident, he had got it wrong.
“I’ve looked at the footage again very carefully,” he said.
“The first time, Antonelli could have put up a bit more of a fight [referring to his battle with Oscar Piastri].
“The second time, it was a driving error and not intentional.
“I’m sorry that Antonelli got so much criticism online. To make it perfectly clear: He didn’t let Norris past intentionally.”
Toto Wolff strongly rejected the initial allegations, calling Marko’s comments “brainless” and labelling suggestions of intentionality “nonsense”. Wolff said Antonelli simply made a small error at the end of an otherwise impressive defensive drive.
“[Antonelli] had a bit of a moment in the previous corner and then less entry speed into that left-hander, put the gas down and at that moment, which can happen, that lost the position,” he said.
Antonelli himself explained he went into the corner “a bit quicker than the lap before” in dirty air and “just lost the rear all of a sudden”, adding the mistake was “pretty annoying” and that he had another “massive moment” immediately afterwards as he picked up dirt off-track.
The incident overshadowed another solid performance from the Italian, who now sits just two points behind the man he replaced at Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton, heading into the final round.
Discussion about this post