Mercedes Formula 1 driver Kimi Antonelli has decided to deactivate his social media accounts due to receiving a barrage of death threats and more than 1,100 offensive messages following the Qatar Grand Prix. The 19-year-old faced severe online abuse from trolls after a late mishap during the race allowed Lando Norris to overtake him.
This incident handed Norris two crucial extra points, widening his lead to 12 points over Max Verstappen, who won the Qatar race. With this advantage, Norris only needs to secure third place in the upcoming Abu Dhabi finale to clinch the world championship, irrespective of Verstappen’s performance.
After the race, observers noticed that Antonelli had changed his Instagram profile picture to an all-black image, fueling speculation about the online abuse directed at him, a claim corroborated by Mirror Sport.
Reports indicate that over 1,100 hurtful comments were targeted at Kimi on his personal social media profiles, with an additional 330 such instances found on the Mercedes team’s pages, some including threats of harm towards the young driver.
The Mercedes team plans to report all the offensive content to the FIA as part of their participation in the United Against Online Abuse initiative. This action follows comments from Red Bull officials insinuating that Antonelli had deliberately made it easy for Norris, who races for McLaren, a team powered by Mercedes engines.
Verstappen’s race engineer expressed confusion over Antonelli’s actions during the race, suggesting that the young driver had allowed Norris to pass without a fight. However, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff quickly dismissed these claims, labeling them as baseless and emphasizing that there was no intention to interfere in the championship.
In response to the controversy, Red Bull issued a statement expressing regret over the remarks that led to the online abuse directed at Antonelli. The statement clarified that Antonelli’s loss of control had allowed Norris to overtake him, refuting claims of deliberate actions.
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