Red Bull expressed regret following "clearly incorrect" comments alleging that Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli had let Lando Norris past at the Qatar Grand Prix, influencing the Formula 1 title fight, after the Italian rookie received death threats on social media.
Standings leader Norris was in fifth place behind Antonelli toward the end of Sunday's race when the Italian slid wide and Norris overtook him for fourth place. That allowed the McLaren driver to stay 12 points in front of Red Bull's Max Verstappen ahead of the season finale this week in Abu Dhabi.
Verstappen's race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase suggested to the Dutch four-time champion over the radio that it seemed Antonelli had let Norris pass him, and Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko claimed Antonelli "waved him by" in comments to Sky Sport Germany.
"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," Red Bull posted on social media Monday.
"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."
Mercedes said more than 1100 comments described as "severe or suspect" were left on Antonelli's social media accounts, including death threats and comments wishing him harm, and more than 330 severe or suspect comments were left on the team's accounts.
Mercedes said the comments were flagged up by tools which kept them from being visible by the public and will be referred to F1's governing body, the FIA, as part of its campaign against abuse on social media. The profile picture on Antonelli's Instagram was set to a plain black circle.
Antonelli was defended by Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff, who said it was "hard to understand" the claims that the Italian rookie would give up a place, especially when he still had a chance of catching Carlos Sainz Jr for third at the time.
"I was pushing hard to stay ahead of Norris in the closing stages and unfortunately just pushed a little bit too hard. I got out of shape through turn nine and then had a massive snap of oversteer," Antonelli said.
"I was lucky to save the car but sadly dropped the position to the McLaren. It was a frustrating and disappointing way to end what had been a good race up to that point."
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