Isack Hadjar has blasted the abuse Andrea Kimi Antonelli endured after Formula 1‘s Qatar Grand Prix, claiming they’re “idiots” who “know nothing about racing”.
Leading Lando Norris in the closing stages in Lusail, Antonelli ran wide in his efforts to keep him behind, losing fourth position with only a handful of laps to go.
Red Bull was not impressed with a change that had implications on the title race, with advisor Helmut Marko alleging it was “obvious” Antonelli had let him past.
That prompted Antonelli to receive mass online abuse across his social media platforms, leading Red Bull to put out a statement to retract the comments made.
Hadjar, along with Charles Leclerc and George Russell, rallied around their colleague prior to the last race in Abu Dhabi, with his team-mate condemning the abuse.
“Yeah, I think it’s pretty unacceptable what happened and what was written and the abuse online,” Russell told media including Motorsport Week.
“Obviously, it all started with a mistake from the Red Bull guys, and of course, they apologised, and that’s okay.
“People make a mistake, especially when you don’t have the full facts.
“But I think those thousands of people behind their keyboards have no excuse and really need to take a hard look at themselves in the mirror and think why that is acceptable –
not just for F1, but just society altogether. I just struggle to comprehend it, really. So that’s all I can say.”
Leclerc urges social media companies to deal with online abuse
Hadjar savaged those responsible for the abuse towards Antonelli, labelling them “idiots” and questioning whether the perpetrators were even fans of the sport at all.
“It’s just unfair, especially when you’re giving your absolute maximum during your race to bring it home – I think it was fourth,” the Frenchman commented.
“You make a mistake, and then there are all these things said about you online.
“I think it’s just very unfair because you give your absolute maximum, and then it seems like you did this mistake on purpose, which I think is very not nice.
“People behind their keyboards, like George said, are just idiots. They all know nothing about racing – never drove ever in their life – so that’s the only reason why they comment.”
Leclerc concurred with his colleagues, while offering advice to Antonelli on how to deal with the abuse as his career continues to grow.
“Yeah, I don’t have much more to add apart from that. It’s unacceptable,” he echoed.
“And obviously, those people face no consequence for their words and for their disrespect towards drivers.
“So yeah, it’s not up to us to think about the consequences that they should endure, but it’s a big shame because, as they said, we’re all here trying to do our absolute best.
“We’ve done racing since we were kids, dreaming of being in that position, and today we’re doing absolutely everything in order to be at the limit. And sometimes mistakes happen.
“In that particular case, also, the hate was for absolutely nothing. So yeah, I mean, I didn’t speak with Kimi.
“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. I remember my first or second year in F1, you kind of look sometimes 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.
“So yeah, then 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.”
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