Kimi Antonelli apology attempt to Isack Hadjar after Chinese GP sprint spotted on video
Kimi Antonelli’s attempted apology to Isack Hadjar after their Chinese sprint collision was coldly rejected, prompting mixed fan reactions
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images
Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli approached Red Bull's Isack Hadjar after the Chinese sprint race to apologise for causing a collision between the two, but footage shared by Formula 1 showed that it fell on deaf ears.
Antonelli received a 10-second penalty for crashing into Hadjar on the opening lap of Saturday's sprint, resulting in damage to the Frenchman's car. The Red Bull driver ultimately finished in 15th place.
After the race, as the Mercedes driver approached Hadjar, the French-Algerian driver signalled for him to move on and brushed off his apology before getting out of the car.
As the Mercedes driver approached Hadjar, the French-Algerian driver signalled for him to move on and brushed off the apology before getting out of the car. At the time of writing, the video had accumulated 1.1 million views and was met with mixed reactions from fans.
"It’s racing Isack, you are bound to turn into someone one day too. Just accept the apology and move on," one fan commented, while another added: "Valid from Isack btw, he has to prove himself every single second in that second RB seat while Kimi gets all the love from Toto and gets away with the rookie card easily, forgetting both of them are, but in different circumstances."
"Yeah, Isack was pissed at Kimi. Kimi just needs to be more careful. He has cost Red Bull too much already," another fan wrote, and someone else said: "Acting like he’s in a place above Kimi and has 10 race wins under his belt. Racing etiquette is racing etiquette, but calm it fella."
The attention of Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff was drawn to the incident by a Sky Germany TV crew in China. Having seen the incident, the Austrian manager said that Hadjar's behaviour was "unsportsmanlike".
"That's not how it should be — waving him away," he concluded.
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