Red Bull issue ‘clearly incorrect’ statement after Kimi Antonelli hit with online abuse

Red Bull has said comments made by members of its staff were ‘clearly incorrect’ following accusations Kimi Antonelli deliberately let Lando Norris pass.

Late on in the race in Qatar, Norris made his way into P4 after overtaking the Mercedes driver but some in Red Bull colours suggested it was a plot to prevent Max Verstappen winning the world title.

Red Bull backtrack on Kimi Antonelli comments

Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase was first to put forward such a theory, suggesting Antonelli had “pulled over and let Norris through.”

Senior advisor Helmut Marko then doubled down and suggested Antonelli did it not once but twice but Red Bull has now retracted that suggestion.

A team statement said “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.

“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.”

Immediately after the race, Antonelli was subjected to over 1,100 severe or suspect comments on his social media platforms. Several of these contained death threats or wished him harm.

As a result, Antonelli turned his profile picture black and Mercedes said it will share their data with the FIA as part of their United Against Online Abuse campaign.

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Marko later apologised for his comments, saying that after watching replays, he recognised it was not deliberate.

“The first time, Antonelli could have put up a bit more of a fight,” he told F1-insider. “The second time, it was a driving error and not intentional. I’m sorry that Antonelli got so much flak online. To make it perfectly clear: He didn’t let Norris past intentionally.”

Mercedes CEO and team principal Toto Wolff dismissed Marko’s comments, suggesting it was “total, utter nonsense.”

“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.”

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