After the race in Qatar, Kimi Antonelli faced a surge of hostility Mercedes registered more than 1,100 abusive messages and threats following the incident in which Lando Norris overtook the young Italian. The controversy escalated after an ill-considered remark: Max Verstappen’s race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, incorrectly suggested over the radio that Antonelli had deliberately let Norris through, while Helmut Marko amplified the reaction by calling the episode “far too obvious.”
The wave of online abuse quickly overwhelmed the driver An tonelli even removed his photo from social media. By Monday, Marko had retracted his comments, Red Bull issued an apology, and the FIA released a statement strongly condemning the online harassment and emphasizing the need for respect toward all participants in the sport.
