Marko apologises after Antonelli comments cause flood of online abuse

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko apologised for suggesting Andrea Kimi Antonelli deliberately let McLaren's Lando Norris through in the Qatar Grand Prix, with the Mercedes Formula 1 driver subjected to a torrent of online abuse.

Antonelli slid off the track on the penultimate lap of the Losail race, allowing Norris to snatch fourth place away from the Italian, and with it take two important points in the drivers' championship to see him defend a 12-point lead against Red Bull's Max Verstappen.

At the time, Verstappen's race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase said it looked like Antonelli had just let Norris through, and after the race Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko said it was "so obvious" Norris had been "waved by".

The comments triggered a torrent of social media abuse towards 18-year-old Antonelli, who turned his Instagram profile picture to black in response. Marko has now backtracked and apologised for the vitriol Antonelli received on Sunday night.

"I took another close look at the footage," Marko told F1-insider. "The first time, Antonelli could have held his ground a little better [as Oscar Piastri passed him into Turn 1]. The second time, 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."

Red Bull also issued a statement on Monday in response to the backlash: "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.

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Formula 1 via Getty Images

"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."

Autosport understands Mercedes' community management tools flagged over 1100 "severe or suspect comments" across Antonelli's social media accounts, which included death threats, and another 330 similarly abusive comments on the team's own accounts.

Mercedes said it would present those numbers and comments to the FIA, which has made tackling social media vitriol a priority through its United Against Online Abuse campaign. The FIA has been contacted for comment.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff slammed Marko's initial comments on Sunday night.

"Bless him, 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's fighting for a potential P3 [in the race]," Wolff said.

"I mean, how brainless can you be to even say something like this? And 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."

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images

But Wolff said he did clear the air with Lambiase, who apologised for making the remark in the heat of the moment, which was then eagerly picked up by the world feed.

"I spoke to GP. I saw him, and obviously, he was emotional in that moment, because they needed one position, I guess, to [help] win the championship," Wolff said about his conversation with Verstappen's race engineer. "Now they need more. With GP, everything's 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 driver championship? I mean, you really need to check yourself whether you see ghosts. I said to GP that there's quite a social media storm and GP said, 'Sorry if I caused that.'"