Mercedes Formula 1 driver, Kimi Antonelli, has decided to deactivate his social media accounts due to receiving a deluge of death threats and more than 1,100 offensive messages following the Qatar Grand Prix. The 19-year-old faced severe online harassment from trolls after a late error in the race allowed Lando Norris to overtake him.
As a consequence, Norris gained crucial extra points that could impact the championship race significantly. With a current 12-point lead over Max Verstappen, the winner of the Qatar Grand Prix, Norris only needs to secure third place in the upcoming Abu Dhabi finale to become the world champion, irrespective of Verstappen’s performance.
After the race, observers noted that Antonelli had changed his Instagram profile picture to a black image, hinting at potential online abuse, a fact confirmed by Mirror Sport. Reports suggest that over 1,100 abusive comments were directed at Antonelli on his personal social media profiles, with around 330 more found on the Mercedes team’s pages. Some of these comments included threats of violence towards the young driver.
The Mercedes team plans to submit all the offensive remarks to the FIA, which leads the United Against Online Abuse initiative. This action follows remarks from Red Bull executives implying that Antonelli may have assisted Norris, who races for McLaren, a team using Mercedes engines.
During the race, Verstappen’s race engineer expressed confusion to the driver over the radio, suggesting that Antonelli had made it easy for Norris to pass him. However, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff swiftly rejected these allegations, denouncing the claims as baseless and emphasizing the team’s focus on the championship standings and Antonelli’s race performance.
Red Bull later issued a statement expressing regret over the comments that incited online abuse towards Antonelli, clarifying that replay footage showed Antonelli losing control of his car momentarily, allowing Norris to overtake him.
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