Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko apologised for suggesting Andrea Kimi Antonelli deliberately let McLaren's Lando Norris through in the Qatar Grand Prix, with the Mercedes Formula 1 driver subjected to a torrent of online abuse.

Antonelli slid off the track on the penultimate lap of the Losail race, allowing Norris to snatch fourth place away from the Italian, and with it take two important points in the drivers' championship to see him defend a 12-point lead against Red Bull's Max Verstappen .

At the time, Verstappen's race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase said it looked like Antonelli had just let Norris through, and after the race Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko said it was "so obvious" Norris had been "waved by".

The comments triggered a torrent of social media abuse towards 18-year-

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