Max Verstappen's Instant Response to Red Bull's Kimi Antonelli Comment

Max Verstappen's immediate reaction to his Red Bull team's comments about Kimi Antonelli has been revealed by insiders.

Verstappen capitalised on a major McLaren strategy blunder in Qatar, after Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris failed to pit under the lap seven safety car.

The decision cost the papaya duo a significant amount of race time, with Piastri recovering to second to keep his title hopes alive, and Norris coming home in fourth.

Despite fourth being far from the result Norris was looking for, it was looking significantly worse for the championship leader until a late Kimi Antonelli mistake promoted the Brit to fourth.

Following Antonelli's error, Verstappen's race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase appeared to accuse the teenager of intentionally letting Norris past.

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko also accused the teenager claiming it was 'so obvious' when speaking to GPblog.

The accusations resulted in Antonelli receiving huge amounts of abuse online from fans, forcing Red Bull to release a statement condemning their team member's comments.

Kimi Antonelli and Max Verstappen in Qatar (credit: getty)

Max Verstappen forced Red Bull to issue public Antonelli apology

Although Red Bull's statement may have seen the obvious PR move, according to journalist Leo Turrini, it was actually Verstappen who demanded the team retracted their comments about Antonelli.

The report claimed that the team's public statement came quickly after Verstappen's direct intervention, who has been a supporter of Antonelli throughout his rookie year.

The FIA were also forced into action, releasing the following statement: "We stand in support of Kimi Antonelli and urge the wider community — online and offline — to treat drivers, teams, officials, and the whole sporting ecosystem with the respect and compassion they deserve."

Antonelli himself is yet to fully address the threats and abuse he received, but thanked his fans for the support underneath his most recent Instagram post prior to the Qatar Grand Prix.

He wrote: "Thanks everyone for the support. Grazie a tutti per il supporto."

The Mercedes star also categorically denied the accusations made from Red Bull in his post-race interview.

"I was trying to do my race, I was trying to get the podium, I was pushing hard.. and just lost the rear, and went off track.. that wasn't on purpose, nothing to do about it," the Italian said.