Helmut Marko apologises after ‘brainless’ Red Bull comments sparked Kimi Antonelli abuse | F1 | Sport

Helmut Marko has issued an apology to Kimi Antonelli, acknowledging that the Mercedes rookie did not intentionally let Lando Norris through during their battle late in the Qatar Grand Prix on Sunday.

At the start of the penultimate lap in Qatar, Max Verstappen was leading the race with Oscar Piastri in second and Lando Norris struggling down in fifth place, behind Antonelli’s rear wing. As they ran, the Brit was only 10 points ahead of the reigning world champion heading into the final race in Abu Dhabi.

This would have been a dream scenario for Verstappen. With all three contenders tied on total wins, victory in Abu Dhabi with Piastri second and Norris third would have won him the crown through the tiebreaker. However, with less than two laps to go, Antonelli made a mistake, allowing the McLaren driver to slip through and giving him a 12-point buffer.

Immediately, Red Bull were sceptical. Verstappen’s race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, jumped on the radio to tell his driver: “I am not sure what happened to Antonelli there. It looked like he just pulled over and let Lando through.”

After the race, Marko made even stronger allegations, stating: “It was twice where he more or less waved Lando by. It was so obvious. Antonelli now helps our main competitor. In Austria, he was crashing [Verstappen] in the rear.”

In the aftermath of the chequered flag, Antonelli experienced vile abuse from a small section of Verstappen’s fanbase on social media. Express Sport understands that there were over 1,100 serious, abusive messages noted on the 19-year-old’s personal social media channels, including some death threats.

In response, the Bologna-born racer turned his Instagram profile picture black, while team principal Toto Wolff pulled no punches responding to Marko’s comments. “Bless him,” Wolff said. “Helmut, this is total, utter nonsense.

“That blows my mind, even to hear that. We’re fighting [Red Bull] for P2 in the championship, which is important for us. Kimi is fighting for a potential P3 [in the race]. How brainless can you be to even say something like this?”

Marko acknowledged his error in an interview released on Monday. The Red Bull advisor wheeled back his criticism of the young Mercedes rookie and expressed regret over the pain caused.

“I’ve looked at the footage again very carefully,” Marko told F1-Insider. “The first time, Antonelli could have put up a bit more of a fight (against Oscar Piastri). The second time, it was a driving error and not intentional. I’m sorry that Antonelli got so much flak online. To make it perfectly clear: He didn’t let Norris past intentionally.”