Mercedes Formula 1 driver Kimi Antonelli has received an unexpected gift from reality television star and entrepreneur Kim Kardashian, following her Monaco Grand Prix podium celebration mishap.
Antonelli was handed an embroidered towel wrapped in a bow, with the message, «To Kimi, from Kim», following the second free practice session ahead of the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.
This came after Kardashian, who was supporting Lewis Hamilton on the podium, picked up an unused towel left by Antonelli after getting sprayed with champagne. Footage of the seemingly innocent moment quickly went viral on social media.
While Antonelli and Mercedes poked fun at and laughed off the moment, Kardashian received a lot of backlash online. But the gift has now hopefully brought that to an end.
«Winning successive races, getting personalised toiletries from Kim K, overcoming TIO2 curse. Kid’s on a roll!» one fan commented on Reddit, while another added: «She had the opportunity to do something funny and she did it.»
«I’m glad something funny turned out from all the commotion of her grabbing the towel,» someone else posted, and another wrote: «Wait till this makes it to Drive to Survive. Towel Gate is gonna have a whole episode.»
Further comments included: «I’ve never seen a fanbase get SO angry about something so innocent, it’s insane how weird a sector of F1 fandom has gotten, like people calling for her to be banned after smiling and not talking to Martin [Brundle] and Towel Gate – people need to touch grass for real,» and «All that hate and this is actually quite wholesome.»
Antonelli received the towel during the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix weekend. He heads into the race with a 66-point lead in the standings over Hamilton. Antonelli’s team-mate George Russell follows in third, two points behind the seven-time champion.
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