Kimi Antonelli reveals Max Verstappen talks after 'death threats'

Kimi Antonelli has revealed he held conversations with Max Verstappen and his Red Bull race engineer in the aftermath of the Qatar GP. 

On the penultimate lap in Lusail, an Antonelli mistake allowed title-contender Lando Norris through for fourth place, handing him two more precious points in his chase for the world championship. 

It meant Norris heads into the Abu Dhabi finale with a 12-point lead over Verstappen instead of 10 points, and means a podium will ensure Norris is world champion at the Yas Marina Circuit.

Immediately after the mistake, Verstappen's race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, claimed over the radio that Antonelli had "just pulled over and let Norris through", with Helmut Marko also raising suspicion over the move.

Antonelli's Mercedes boss, Toto Wolff, branded Marko as "brainless" and asked if he was "seeing ghosts" at the claim.

The 19-year-old then received death threats on social media, with Mercedes reporting a 1100% rise in hateful comments across its social media channels.

On the Monday following the race, Red Bull issued a statement expressing regret at Antonelli's treatment, with the Italian revealing talks with Verstappen and Lambiase before the season finale.

"It was not easy to get those comments after the race, for something that I would never do, waving past a competitor," Antonelli revealed to the media, including RacingNews365. 

"I was fighting for P3 at the end of the day. I was pushing hard and trying to get in the DRS of [Carlos] Sainz, and after so many laps in the dirty air and pushing so hard, the mistake arrived.

"Every lap, I was getting closer to the point where the tyres gave up and at that moment, I made the mistake, and Lando passed me.

"Then to receive those comments after the race, it definitely hurt, but then it was nice to see the Red Bull statement, and [Lambiase] came to talk to me as well, and I also clarified with Max.

"I got a lot of support, and it helped to forget what happened and focus on this weekend.

"[Max] saw what happened, and he wasn't bothered by anything, and he even showed support.

"It was really, really nice from him, and I cannot say what he said because it contains some bad words, but it was just: 'Don't worry about these kinds of people, because they're brainless, so just focus on the job.'"