Damon Hill comes out in support of Helmut Marko as Red Bull man faces backlash for death threats against Kimi Antonelli

Former F1 champion Damon Hill has come out in support of Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko as he faces backlash amid the death threats and online abuse against Kimi Antonelli. After the Qatar GP, Marko had suggested that Kimi Antonelli let Lando Norris by during the race at Lusail International Circuit to help the Mercedes customer team driver in the title fight.

A strategic disaster from McLaren meant they didn't pit under the safety car on Lap 7 at the Qatar GP, putting Max Verstappen in the prime seat to win the race. Lando Norris came out in P5 after his final pitstop and was tasked with overtaking Kimi Antonelli and Carlos Sainz for the final podium spot.

Unfortunately, the low-downforce spec Mercedes was hard to overtake, and it was only in the last couple of laps when Antonelli had an oversteer moment, that the championship leader was able to pass him. A gap which otherwise would've been 10 points for Verstappen going into Abu Dhabi was increased to 12 points after Norris' passing.

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko came out after the race and accused Kimi Antonelli of allowing the McLaren driver to pass, as he said,

“It was twice where he more or less waved Lando by. It was so obvious. Antonelli now helps our main competitor, in Austria he was crashing [Verstappen] in the rear.”

The Italian driver received online abuse, including death threats, following the incident at the Qatar GP, which was just an honest mistake on his end, leading to Helmut Marko being slammed. However, the 1996 F1 champion Damon Hill came out in support of the Red Bull advisor as he uploaded a story on Instagram.

Damon Hill shared The Race’s post on his story about Antonelli receiving over 1000 abusive messages, with a caption in support of Helmut Marko.

“So let's be clear. Social media allows impunity, extreme ideas and hate to be vented as much as it allows love and all the good things in life to be expressed. So the awful stuff comes from awful people. You can't blame Helmut for the awful people,” read the caption of Hill’s story

Since then, both Helmut Marko and Red Bull have come out and apologised for the comments and accusations.

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko apologises to Kimi Antonelli amid the online abuse

F1 Grand Prix of Italy - Qualifying - Source: Getty

Max Verstappen's race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase (GP), took to the team radio after Kimi Antonelli’s oversteer moments and suggested that he let Norris by. Helmut Marko came during the post-race interviews and suggested the same.

However, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff slammed Marko for his comments and detailed how he had a conversation with GP after the race to clear the air. The Red Bull advisor came out the day after the race and apologised to Antonelli, as he said,

“I took another close look at the footage. The first time, Antonelli could have held his ground a little better [as Oscar Piastri passed him into Turn 1]. The second time, it was a driving error and not intentional. I'm sorry that Antonelli got so much flak online. To clarify once again: he didn't let Norris pass on purpose.” (via F1-insider)

Mistake or not, we are in for a grand finale at Abu Dhabi on 7 December as Verstappen and Norris go head-to-head for the title.

Edited by Pranay Bhagi