Red Bull have issued a statement after Kimi Antonelli received abuse online following the Qatar GP, where Lando Norris overtook Antonelli on the penultimate lap.

After McLaren made a strategic error at the Qatar GP, not taking a pit stop under the safety car, it led to championship leader Lando Norris, coming out of the pits in fifth position. The Briton was struggling to get past Antonelli and Carlos Sainz, and looked set on finishing in fifth. With Max Verstappen winning the race, the Dutchman was set to be just 10-points behind Norris in the standings, going into the final race.

However, Antonelli made a costly mistake at Turn 9, losing control of his Mercedes with a huge snap of oversteer. The Italian ran off the circuit, and subsequently lost fourth place to Norris. This led to a barrage of online abuse for the 19-year old rookie, and even led to criticism from Red Bull's Helmut Marko initially, before the Austrian walked back his previous statement.

Credit: Race Pictures

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Red Bull Statement

Taking to social media, Red Bull stated: "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. 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."

Antonelli also changed his profile picture on social media to a plain black image, in order to stand up against the online hatred.

Responding to Red Bull's statement, Mercedes said: "Abuse is never acceptable. Appreciate you setting the record straight. See you on track in Abu Dhabi."

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