Charles Leclerc demands action be taken over vile Kimi Antonelli abuse

Charles Leclerc has called for firm action to be taken against the online abuse suffered by Kimi Antonelli this year, believing F1 drivers "shouldn’t really have to get used to this kind of behaviour".

Antonelli was subject to death threats online after the Qatar GP, in which a mistake allowed title contender Lando Norris through for fourth place on the penultimate lap, thus rescuing two points in his battle with Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri.

Verstappen's engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, reacting immediately to the incident, told his driver that it had appeared Antonelli had "just pulled over" to let Norris by. Red Bull's former advisor, Helmut Marko, also stated his belief that the incident was on purpose.

Toto Wolff labelled Marko "brainless" in response as Antonelli received death threats, whilst Mercedes recorded a 1,100% spike in hateful and abusive comments across its social media channels in the aftermath of the race.

Lambiase spoke with Antonelli post-race, whilst Red Bull also issued a statement as Marko apologised for the claim.

Ferrari driver Leclerc believes grand prix racers should not be subject to actions from people who "face no consequences".

"It's unacceptable, and obviously, those people face no consequence for their words and for their disrespect towards drivers," the Monégasque explained to the media, including RacingNews365. 

"It's not up to us to think about the consequences that they should endure, but it's a big shame because we’re all here trying to do our absolute best. 

"We've been racing since we were kids, dreaming of being in that position, and today we're doing absolutely everything to be at the limit. Sometimes mistakes happen. In that particular case, also, the hate was for absolutely nothing.

"The only thing that you can do in those kinds of moments is to ignore everything that is happening, but that’s obviously very hard, especially when you are... I remember my first or second year in F1, you sometimes look on social media at what's being said around you, or at least that was the case for me, and that makes it even more difficult. 

"I think with experience you kind of get used to it, but we shouldn’t really have to get used to this kind of behaviour, and I hope that one day it will be tackled properly."