DOHA, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Red Bull issued a statement of regret on Monday after senior team members made "incorrect" comments accusing Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli of moving aside for McLaren's Formula One leaderLando Norris at the Qatar Grand Prix.
Red Bull's 82-year-old motorsport consultant Helmut Marko told reporters after the race, won by Red Bull's Max Verstappen, that it was obvious Antonelli "more or less waved Lando by" for fourth place on the penultimate lap.
Verstappen's race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase also observed over the radio that Antonelli appeared to have made it easy.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff angrily accused his fellow-Austrian Marko of "total, utter nonsense" and Red Bull moved to calm the situation when it emerged Antonelli, 19, had faced social media abuse.
"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," the statement said.
"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."
The overtake meant Norris, whose car has a Mercedes engine, goes to the final round in Abu Dhabi with a 12-point lead over Verstappen rather than 10.
Antonelli explained the incident as a mistake made in dirty air while following Carlos Sainz's Williams - also a Mercedes-powered car - and almost crashed.
"I was pushing hard to stay ahead of Norris in the closing stages and unfortunately just pushed a little bit too hard. I got out of shape through turn nine and then had a massive snap of oversteer," said the Italian rookie.
WOLFF SAYS ACCUSATION IS 'BRAINLESS'
Wolff ripped into Marko's comments after the race.
"We are fighting for P2 (2nd place) in the championship, which is important for us. Kimi is fighting for a potential P3," said the Austrian.
"I mean, how brainless can you be to even say something like this?," he exclaimed.
"And it annoys me because I'm annoyed with the race itself, how it went," added the boss. "And then hearing such nonsense blows my mind."
Wolff said he spoke to Lambiase and cleared the air, with the engineer explaining he had not seen 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 whether you are seeing ghosts," added Wolff.
McLaren have already won the constructors' championship for a second successive year and Mercedes are second overall, 33 points clear of Red Bull in third with a maximum 43 still to be won.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
