ABU DHABI: Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli on Thursday thanked Max Verstappen for his support as he revealed that the Red Bull driver and his race engineer had spoken to him after receiving death threats on social media following the Qatar Grand Prix.
The 19-year-old rookie made a mistake on the penultimate lap of last Sunday’s race which allowed series leader Lando Norris of McLaren to pass him and claim fourth place.
It earned Norris two more points in his bid to dethrone four-time champion Verstappen, who he leads by 12 points ahead of this weekend’s season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and prompted Gianpiero Lambiase, Verstappen’s race engineer, to comment on team radio that Antonelli “had just pulled over and let Norris through.”
This led to Red Bull consultant Helmut Marko adding that he had suspicions about the move, suggesting a conspiracy against Red Bull and Verstappen, which Mercedes’ team chief Toto Wolff described as “brainless.”
The comments, broadcast widely during the race, sparked a slew of abusive comments, including death threats on Antonelli’s social media. Mercedes reported a rise of 1100 percent in hateful comments on their social media channels.
“It wasn’t easy to get those comments after the race, for something that I would never do, waving past a competitor,” said Antonelli. “I was fighting for P3 at the end of the day. I was pushing hard and pushing so hard, the mistake arrived.
“Every lap, I was getting closer to the point where the tires gave up and at that moment, I made the mistake, and Lando passed me.
“Then to receive those comments after the race, it definitely hurt.”
But the young Italian said he has subsequently received support from other members of the paddock.
“It was nice to see the Red Bull statement (issued on Monday) and then Lambiase came to talk to me as well and I also clarified it with Max. I had a lot of support and it helped me to forget what happened and focus on this weekend,” he said.
“Max saw what happened and he wasn’t bothered... He even showed me support.
“That was really nice from him and I can’t say what he said because it contains some bad words, but it was just ‘don’t worry about these kinds of people, because they’re brainless, so just focus on the job’.”
Ruling body the International Motoring Federation also issued a statement of support for Antonelli and condemned the online abuse.
Verstappen, who is aiming for a fifth-consecutive world title on Sunday in a threeway race with McLaren’s Norris and Oscar Piastri, defended Red Bull’s initial reaction to the incident.
“What people say on social media is a problem with social media and that has nothing to do with what Helmut (Marko) actually says,” said Verstappen on Thursday.
“After what he said, it still doesn’t mean you can completely tear someone to shreds, does it?
“That’s the problem to tackle with social media. Why can people create all these accounts even without a real name? It’s just not regulated.”