Oliver Bearman called out the ‘scum of the earth’ individuals who directed abuse at Kimi Antonelli after his mistake on the penultimate lap of the Qatar Grand Prix. The Mercedes racer received over 1000 ‘severe’ comments on his social media platforms, including death threats.

Antonelli was battling with Lando Norris in a bid to keep hold of fourth place in Qatar last Sunday, but lost control of his Mercedes car on the penultimate lap, giving the McLaren driver a path through.

Red Bull figures were initially sceptical of Antonelli’s lapse of control. Max Verstappen’s race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, declared that the Italian had “just pulled over and let Lando through” on the radio, and Helmut Marko alleged that the action was deliberate before wheeling back his comments earlier this week.

Discussing the abuse his former Prema Racing team-mate Antonelli had received, Bearman said: “I didn’t face that level of criticism, but that comes as part of being in a team like Haas, rather than Mercedes.

“So you know that there’s also a benefit of starting your career in a team like Haas, you’re a bit less in the limelight, you have the possibility to make mistakes and be less criticised for those. But I think generally, it’s always the case that people behind the screen are horrible and the scum of the earth, really.

“I don’t think they should be doing that type of stuff to someone. I understand that people who’ve been in F1 for a very long time get used to it, and people who are rookies, it may be their first experience having that type of criticism, but that criticism is an absolute joke.

“It shouldn’t be tolerated. And I know the FIA is doing everything they can to stop that. But the problem is, these sad people are giving those types of criticisms. It’s a joke. You know, we’re putting our lives on the line to entertain people and to give the people who are passionate for the sport a good time.

“And you have people like that who are just hurting people, and that’s not just racing, that’s also their personal life. And I just think people are terrible. Real people of the world are terrible.”

After witnessing the abuse experienced by Antonelli, Red Bull released a statement expressing their “regret” over the consequences of their speculation, while advisor Marko gave an interview with F1-Insider apologising for his accusation, which was described as “brainless” by Mercedes boss Toto Wolff.