Mercedes address Red Bull statement after horrific Kimi Antonelli online abuse

Mercedes deputy technical director Simone Resta has revealed that the Silver Arrows "really appreciated" Red Bull's statement in support of Kimi Antonelli. 

Following the Qatar GP, 19-year-old Antonelli was subjected to horrific online abuse and death threats, triggered by a late mistake. 

Antonelli ran wide in the closing moments of the grand prix which allowed Lando Norris to snatch fourth, securing the Briton a crucial two further points. 

It could prove pivotal come the conclusion of this weekend's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with Max Verstappen finding himself 12 points adrift when it could have been 10.

Verstappen's race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase and Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko both suggested Antonelli allowed Norris past, something the team stressed in its statement was clearly not the case. 

In Red Bull's statement, the Austrian outfit stressed that a mistake was clearly made by the Italian teenager and that it "sincerely regretted" that the suggestions triggered such a wave of online abuse. 

Addressing Red Bull's statement, Resta revealed that it was welcomed by Mercedes, who were disappointed to see just how much hate Antonelli received. 

"For me, for us, for all the team, [the abuse is] quite disappointing," Resta said. "And we take online abuse very seriously. 

"With the communications team, there's a lot of work on tools and platform to create a safe area for the fans to interact with the team. 

"On top of it, it was great to see on Monday a statement from Red Bull, stating their position. And we really appreciated this one.

"Overall, Kimi, the engineers, the team, we are all working very united to maximise our potential in Abu Dhabi and get the best possible result out there, aiming to achieve our objective, which is to finish P2 in the constructors' classification."