Mercedes Formula 1 driver Kimi Antonelli has taken down his social media accounts due to receiving death threats and over 1,100 abusive messages following the Qatar Grand Prix. The 19-year-old faced intense online harassment from trolls after a mistake in the race allowed Lando Norris to pass him, resulting in Norris gaining crucial points in the championship standings. With Norris now ahead by 12 points compared to Max Verstappen, who won the Qatar Grand Prix, Norris only needs a third-place finish in the upcoming Abu Dhabi finale to secure the world championship title.

Following the race, Antonelli changed his Instagram profile picture to all-black, hinting at potential online abuse. Reportedly, more than 1,100 offensive comments were directed at Antonelli’s personal accounts, with an additional 330 on the Mercedes team’s pages, some even containing threats towards the young driver.

The Mercedes team plans to report the offensive remarks to the FIA as part of their United Against Online Abuse initiative. This action comes after Red Bull executives insinuated that Antonelli made it easy for Norris to pass, with even Verstappen’s race engineer expressing confusion over Antonelli’s actions during the race.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff refuted these claims and criticized Red Bull for their remarks, emphasizing that there was no intention to interfere with the championship race. Red Bull later issued a statement regretting the comments that led to online abuse towards Antonelli, acknowledging that replay footage showed a racing incident rather than deliberate action.

In other news, Sky has enhanced its Ultimate TV and Sky Sports bundle to include popular streaming services like HBO Max, Netflix, Disney+, discovery+, and Hayu, along with comprehensive Formula 1 coverage and a wide selection of channels. Sky remains the go-to platform for Formula 1 fans, offering coverage of all sessions throughout the season, in addition to exclusive sports content such as the Premier League, EFL, darts, and golf.