For Andrea Kimi Antonelli , coming under attack from the bottom half of the internet is just the latest unexpected challenge which has beset him during an up-and-down rookie season with Mercedes in Formula 1.

Although the Red Bull team apologised for its part in stoking the online hatred prompted by Antonelli’s trip across the kerbs late in the Qatar Grand Prix, allowing championship leader Lando Norris to pounce and claim fourth place, this came too late to stem the momentum of the campaign.

Antonelli revealed that while he wasn’t initially aware of the bile being directed at him – in common with the majority of F1 drivers, he doesn’t actually operate his social media feeds – he was shaken by what he saw once alerted to it.

“It was not easy to get all those kind of comments aft

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