Kimi Antonelli addresses Lando Norris Qatar incident amid death threats

Kimi Antonelli stated that he “almost crashed” as a wide moment let Lando Norris through into fourth late in the Qatar GP, an error which Antonelli called “very annoying” and one which perhaps cost him a podium.

Unfortunately, the Mercedes teenager has since been subjected to a torrent of social media abuse, including death threats, after Red Bull’s Gianpiero Lambiase and Helmut Marko initially called it a deliberate act from Antonelli. Red Bull has since issued a statement to row back on the claim.

Kimi Antonelli addresses Lando Norris incident amid online abuse

Antonelli was on the hunt for a third podium in a row, with Williams’ Carlos Sainz holding that P3 spot in the closing stages of the Qatar Grand Prix. Antonelli also had the championship leader Norris on his tail.

Antonelli was putting up a valiant defence from the McLaren behind, but went wide on the penultimate lap, allowing Norris to swoop through and drive on to a P4 finish, while Antonelli was forced to settle for fifth.

That moment could yet be significant in the title race, as it ensured that Norris heads into the Abu Dhabi decider 12 points ahead of Max Verstappen, rather than the 10 that it would have been had he remained behind Antonelli.

It was suggested to Verstappen by his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase, in the immediate aftermath over team radio, that Antonelli had “pulled over and let Norris through.” A heat of the moment comment, one which Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff addressed with Lambiase in the paddock post-race.

However, Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko would continue the suggestions of a deliberate Antonelli act in his comments after the race. He has since taken those comments back, clarifying that Antonelli had not done anything deliberate, while Red Bull issued a statement singing from the same hymn sheet.

Mercedes and McLaren are connected by way of an engine partnership, Mercedes being the supplier to McLaren, though any theory that Mercedes would want to help McLaren versus Verstappen carries no logic.

Mercedes is aiming to secure P2 in the Constructors’ Championship, plus the significant financial and wind tunnel benefits which come with that. Antonelli meanwhile has a chance of beating the driver he replaced at Mercedes, seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, to sixth in the Drivers’ Championship, which would be a monumental achievement in his rookie season.

Unfortunately, the response on Antonelli has led to severe online abuse. The Italian has blacked out his social media profile pictures, understood to be in direct response to the abuse.

Antonelli has not acknowledged the result of the race on social media either, but explained the incident with Norris when speaking to PlanetF1.com and other media outlets following the race.

“It was an intense race, again, dictated by dirty air, track positioning,” he said.

“I think what really compromised the race was in the pit-stop having to hold into the box to avoid any unsafe releases, because everyone was coming in.

“And obviously, so early on into the race, with the pack being so close, we were unfortunate because just we had to hold, and so then I lost the place to Carlos.

“Then in stint two, just with the medium I was a bit concerned, because some graining started to appear, and just staying in those two seconds, but really hard to get close.

“And then with the hard I was pushing quite a lot, and eventually I was getting to DRS, but then in [Turn] nine I had a massive moment, and almost crashed. Then I went off track and lost the place to Lando, which was very annoying.

“I went in a bit quicker than the lap before. Obviously, with dirty air, the car is more unpredictable, because you have less downforce, and the tyres overheat more. But I went in a bit quicker and just lost the rear all of a sudden. I didn’t expect it.

“Obviously, at such a high speed, I went off track and then the next corner, with picking up all the dirt, I had a massive moment again and went off track again. So just need to look into detail, but was pretty annoying.”

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Antonelli was asked whether he believed that he could have caught and passed Sainz for a spot on the podium, had he not made that mistake when defending from Norris.

“Very difficult,” he replied. “I mean, we were gaining quite a lot on Carlos, and we were quite a bit stronger in the last sector.

“So definitely, with two laps to go, we would have had the DRS in that lap, and then probably would have had a shot in the last lap.”

Quizzed on whether he felt he could have held Lando to the line without the error, Antonelli confirmed: “Yeah, definitely.

“I was comfortable. Because, again, he came with so much more pace, but in dirty air, he couldn’t get past, and so I was pretty comfortable.

“He was even out of DRS for a couple of laps. I felt I could have held him, but yeah, just did a mistake.”

Antonelli heads to Abu Dhabi just two points behind Hamilton in the battle for sixth in the standings.

Additional reporting by Mat Coch and Thomas Maher

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