Kimi Antonelli subjected to death threats in vile social media attacks
Kimi Antonelli has been subjected to death threats amid a torrent of vile social media abuse.
Kimi Antonelli has gone dark on his social media channels, following a barrage of abuse and toxicity following the Qatar Grand Prix.
The Italian driver finished fifth in the race at the Losail International Circuit, but has opted against posting any acknowledgement of his result on social media, alongside changing his profile pictures to plain black.
Kimi Antonelli subjected to vile death threats
Antonelli was one of the stars of the Qatar Grand Prix, having rose to fourth place in the closing stages of the race.
Closing in on Williams’ Carlos Sainz for third, Antonelli had championship leader Lando Norris directly behind him for several laps, and appeared to be capable of successfully holding off the McLaren man, potentially an outcome with implications for Norris’ title bid.
However, on the penultimate lap, Antonelli made a small error at Turn 10, running wide into the escape area. His loss of momentum resulted in Norris getting past to gain the extra position.
Immediately, race leader Max Verstappen was informed of the position change, with his race engineer GianPiero Lambiase insinuating that Antonelli had slowed up intentionally to allow Norris pass; the apparent logic of this being that McLaren and Mercedes enjoy a convivial relationship by way of McLaren being Mercedes’ engine customers.
Antonelli struggled to rebuild his momentum immediately, making a further mistake at the following corner due to his dirty tyres, but managed to bring home his car in fifth. His post-race comments explained the incident, in which he said he had simply struggled to control the rear and momentarily lost it.
Hours after the race, Antonelli turned his social media pictures to plain black, and it’s understood this is in direct response to the torrent of abuse that has been flung at him over the incident.
Team sources have explained that the Italian has received several death threats or comments expressing a desire to inflict harm upon him, with over 1100 of the most “severe” comments flagged by Mercedes’ own community management tools across Antonelli’s social media.
Over 300 comments of similar severity were flagged on Mercedes’ own social media channels.
PlanetF1.com’s own review of comments previously visible on Antonelli’s channels has uncovered a torrent of abuse with comments of a theme unsuitable for publication.
Red Bull apologise and issue statement over Kimi Antonelli abuse
The implication of Antonelli’s mistake being of a deliberate nature was suggested by Lambiase in the first instance, while Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko also suggested the same when speaking to media post-race.
While speaking to media, including PlanetF1.com, post-race, Wolff firmly shut down the insinuations.
“Bless him,” Wolff said.
“Helmut, this is total, utter nonsense. That blows my mind, even to hear that.
“We’re fighting for P2 in the championship, which is important for us. Kimi is fighting for a potential P3. How brainless can you be to even say something like this?
“It annoys me, because I’m annoyed with the race itself, how it went. I’m annoyed with the mistake at the end. I’m annoyed with other mistakes and then hearing such nonsense blows my mind.”
Wolff also confirmed that he had spoken with Lambiase about the incident.
“I spoke to GP, saw him, and obviously he’s emotional in that moment, because they needed a P3, I guess, to win the championship. Now, they need more,” he said.
“I said to him, Kimi just went off. He had a bit of a moment in the previous corner, and then entry speed into that left-hander, put the gas down and at that moment, which can happen, that lost the position.
“So with GP, everything is clear. Cleared the air. He said he didn’t see the situation. Why would we do this?”
“Why would we even think about interfering in a Drivers’ Championship? I mean, you really need to check yourself, whether you see ghosts.”
As for Marko, the Austrian has since revisited his comments and explained to F1-Insider that he had baselessly accused Antonelli of an intentional action.
“I took another close look at the footage,” says the Graz native.
“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.”
More on the social media abuse problem in F1
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Red Bull has since issued a statement, outlining its position and expressing remorse that the emotionally-charged comments from members of its team escalated the situation.
“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 statement said.
“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.”
Mercedes is set to engage with the FIA on the extent of the vitriol.
The abuse is the latest high-profile example of the behaviour that the FIA’s United Against Online Abuse initiative is targeting to significantly reduce, if not eradicate.
Earlier this year, the FIA’s Erin Bourke explained to PlanetF1.com how the tools available to teams and the governing body allow it to generate leads into identifying the origin of individual comments on social media platforms.
Pursuing those who go too far in their online activities and securing legal prosecutions is something UAOA is pursuing, with its first prosecution being actively sought.
“We know that that is a big stand saying actually, to the wider public,” Bourke said, “this is what’s possible.
“That’s quite important over the next year or two to be achieved.”
As for whether such cases will be publicised by UAOA when that time comes, Bourke said it will come down to individual circumstances.
“I think it would depend on the case and the topic and whether the victim would want to share it,” she said, “but, if it were possible, we would state, top-line, this is what’s gone through.”
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