P1racenews AI automatic summary:
Kimi Antonelli has received widespread support from the F1 community.
F1 drivers showed support for Kimi Antonelli after he faced abuse following the Qatar Grand Prix. The Italian driver received death threats and hateful messages on social media, prompted by a race incident with Lando Norris. The situation escalated when Max Verstappen’s engineer and Helmut Marko made comments questioning Antonelli’s actions during the race. Despite this, Norris leads the championship showdown in Abu Dhabi with a 12-point advantage. The abuse towards Antonelli was strongly condemned by the FIA and fellow drivers, with Haas’s Ollie Bearman denouncing online bullying in the sport. Bearman highlighted the difficulties rookies face in dealing with such harsh criticism and emphasized the need for more respect in the sport. George Russell, head of the GPDA, acknowledged the apology from Red Bull and expressed support for Antonelli in the face of unwarranted backlash.
