F1 drivers rally around Kimi Antonelli after online abuse "definitely hurt" rookie: What they said

Andrea Kimi Antonelli arrived in Abu Dhabi carrying what became a tsunami of abuse on his shoulders after a mistake in the closing moments of the Qatar Grand Prix was misconstrued as waving through Max Verstappen rival Lando Norris.

Comments made by Red Bull's Helmut Marko and Gianpiero Lambiase - later apologised for - started a barrage of online hate towards the 18-year-old Italian.

In response, a number of drivers have condemned the treatment of the Mercedes rookie. This is what they had to say ahead of the 2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, including Antonelli himself.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli

Yeah, I mean, it was not easy to get all those kind of comments after the race, especially for something that I would never do, such as waving past a competitor. I was fighting for P3, at the end of the day, I was pushing hard and I was trying to get into the DRS of Sainz, especially after so many laps in dirty air and pushing so hard. The mistake arrived, because obviously every lap I was pushing a bit more and more to get closer and I arrived to the point where the tyre gave up and at the moment I did a mistake and Lando passed me.

Then after the race to receive those kind of comments definitely hurt, but yeah, definitely, then obviously it was nice to see the direct Red Bull statement. Also, GP came to talk to me as well and I also clarified with Max and that was nice. But apart from that, after that they got a lot of support, which was nice and definitely also it helped to kind of forget what happened and focus on to this week.

George Russell

I think it's pretty unacceptable what happened and what was written and the abuse online. Obviously, it all started with a mistake from Red Bull guys and of course they apologised and that's OK. People make mistakes especially when you don't have the full facts, but I think those thousands of people behind their keyboards have no excuse.

They really need to take a hard look at themselves in the mirror and think why that is acceptable. Not just for F1, but just society altogether. I just struggle to comprehend it really.

That's all I can say.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images

Isack Hadjar

I haven't spoken to Kimi but it's just unfair especially when you're giving your absolute maximum during your race. I think it was fourth. You make a mistake and then there's all these things said about you online.

I think it's just very unfair because you give your absolute maximum and then it seems like you did this mistake on purpose. Which I think is very not nice. People behind their keyboards like George said are just idiots.

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They don't know anything about racing, never drove ever in their life so that's the only reason why they comment.

Charles Leclerc

I don't have much more to add apart from that it's unacceptable. Obviously, those people face no consequences for their words and for their disrespect towards drivers. It's not up to us to think about the consequences that they should endure, but it's a big shame because, as they said, we're all here trying to do our absolute best.

We've done racing since we were kids dreaming of being in that position. Today, we are doing absolutely everything in order to be at the limit and sometimes mistakes happen. In that particular case, the hate was for absolutely nothing.

I didn't speak with Kimi. The only thing that you can do in those kind of moments is to ignore everything that is happening. That's obviously very hard and especially when you are, I remember my first or second year in F1, you kind of look sometimes on social media what's being said around you.

At least that was the case for me and that makes it even more difficult. Then I think with experience you kind of get used to but we shouldn't really have to get used to these kind of behaviours and I hope that one day it will be tackled properly.

Oliver Bearman

Well, I didn't face that level of criticism, but that comes as part of being in a team like Haas rather than Mercedes. So, there's also a benefit of starting your career in a team like Haas. You're a bit less in the limelight.

You have the possibility to make mistakes and be less criticised for those. But generally, it's always the case that people behind the screen are horrible and they're scum of the earth, really. I don't think they should be doing that type of stuff to someone.

I understand that people who've been in F1 for a very long time can get used to it, and people who are rookies, it may be their first experience having that type of criticism, but that criticism is an absolute joke. It shouldn't be tolerated and I know the FIA are doing everything they can to stop that, but the problem is these sad people giving those types of criticisms. It's a joke.

We're putting our lives on the line to entertain people and to give the people who are passionate for the sport a good time and you have people like that who are just hurting people, and that's not just racing, that's also their personal life and I just think people are terrible. The real people of the world are terrible.

More quotes will be added to this page as the weekend continues.

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