Kimi Antonelli has split from his girlfriend on the eve of the new Formula One season, with his partner opening up about the 'issues' surrounding their relationship. Antonelli was the new kid on the grid last year, with the teenage sensation featuring in his maiden season as a Formula One driver.

It was a solid start to life behind the wheel for Antonelli, who finished seventh in the overall Drivers' Championship standings, just six points behind Lewis Hamilton. He'll be looking to build on that this year, but his preparations for the new season might have been rocked following a breakup with girlfriend Eliska Babickova.

In an Instagram post shared to her 168,000 followers, Eliska said: "I'm finally here to address the breakup rumours... so first I want to say, I am addressing this because I have always been honest and I feel like I don't hide anything, also it's quite recent because throughout February, me and Kimi were trying to figure stuff out. We were not really sure what point the relationship was at ourselves.

"I've seen so many speculations and fake narratives and news, that's just not right and I want to set the record straight. One girl messaged me and she was getting death threats because some people made up something really disgusting."

Eliska has shared images of her and Kimi together on social media, with suggestions they'd been dating since late 2023. She continued: "Yes we did break up, I was the one to end the relationship because I felt we no longer aligned in our personal lives and what we wanted for our futures. Also, our values towards the end of the relationship were very different. That's basically it.

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"There's no massive drama. No other men, no other women, no other involved, there was no cheating. It is super wrong for anyone to assume that, because it's very misrepresentative of who me and Kimi are as people.

"Although we did have issues towards the end, other people were never the problem. It just misrepresents everything our relationship was and I don't like that."

Antonelli will have all eyes on the season opener in Melbourne next month, as he looks to get his second full season as a Mercedes driver off to a strong start. Following the engine regulation changes, Mercedes are expected to be challenging towards the top of both the Drivers' and Constructors' Championship standings.

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