MERCEDES teenager Kimi Antonelli has been subjected to death threats after Red Bull suggested he deliberately moved out of Lando Norris’ way in the closing stages of the Qatar Grand Prix.

Norris was elevated to fourth after Antonelli ran wide on the penultimate lap of Sunday’s race.

Norris gained two points from Antonelli’s mistake which means he now can finish third, rather than runner-up at this weekend’s season finale in Abu Dhabi, to be assured of beating Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to the title.

Verstappen’s race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase told his driver, who won in Qatar, over the radio: “It looked like he (Antonelli) just pulled over and let Norris through.”

Red Bull’s motorsport adviser, Helmut Marko, was also critical of the 19-year-old rookie, claiming he “waved” Norris past.

Antonelli, who replaced Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes, has since turned his profile picture on Instagram black following a torrent of online attacks.

The Press Association reported today that Mercedes has identified “more than 1,100 severe or suspect” comments — “several of which were death threats” — across Antonelli’s social media accounts.

An additional 330 “severe or suspect” comments were also flagged via Mercedes’s social media channels.

Mercedes has shared the figures with the FIA’s United Against Online Abuse campaign.

Red Bull was moved to issue an apology today. A statement from Red Bull Racing read: “Comments made before the end of and immediately after the Qatar GP suggesting that Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli had deliberately allowed Lando Norris to overtake him are clearly incorrect.

“Replay footage shows Antonelli momentarily losing control of his car, thus allowing Norris to pass him. We sincerely regret that this has led to Kimi receiving online abuse.”

McLaren are powered by Mercedes engines, and speaking on Sunday night, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said: “This is total, utter nonsense that blows my mind.

“We are fighting for second in the constructors’ championship, which is important for us.

“Kimi is fighting for a potential third in the race. I mean, how brainless can you be to even say something like this?

“And it annoys me. Because I’m annoyed with the race itself, how it went. I’m annoyed with the mistake at the end. I’m annoyed with other mistakes. And then hearing such nonsense blows my mind.

“I spoke to GP (Lambiase). Obviously they were emotional in that moment. I said to him, ‘he (Antonelli) just went off. He had a bit of a moment in the previous corner and then less entry speed into the left-hander. It can happen.’

“So with GP everything is clear. We cleared the air. He said that he didn’t see the situation.

“But why would we do this? Why would we even think about interfering in a driver championship? You really need to check yourself and whether you are seeing ghosts.”