‘Poor taste’ - Zak Brown slams Helmut Marko’s comments about Lando Norris
McLaren's Zak Brown has criticised Helmut Marko's comments about Lando Norris' mental health.
McLaren CEO Zak Brown has criticised Helmut Marko for setting F1 back 10 to 20 years with comments he made about Lando Norris’ mental health.
Speaking to German publication Motorsport Magazin, Red Bull advisor Marko claimed that Norris has “some mental weakness” as he assessed the McLaren driver’s ongoing title fight with Max Verstappen, who leads the championship by 52 points with six races remaining.
"[Max] is the best, he's the fastest and, above all, he has the mental strength to theoretically fight for the world championship more than Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris," Marko said.
"We know Norris has some mental weaknesses. I've read about some of the rituals he needs to do to perform well on race day.”
Norris, who has been open about his mental health struggles since he entered F1 in 2019, recently admitted he barely eats or drinks before grands prix due to nerves and anxiety he experiences in the build up to races.
And Brown has hit out at Marko, saying he was “disappointed but not surprised” by the 81-year-old Austrian’s comments.
"Lando has been kind of an ambassador for mental health. Toto [Wolff] has spoken about mental health, so I think it's a serious issue that we've tried to talk about and bring to the forefront,” Brown said on Friday at the United States Grand Prix.
"Poking at that situation I think is pretty inappropriate and kind of sets us back 10-20 years. But it's all fun and games in how some people go racing and what tactics they use from a sporting perspective, but I thought that one was in pretty poor taste.”
Also in the build up to the Austin weekend, Verstappen said Oscar Piastri is “too good” to be asked to support McLaren teammate Norris’ title bid.
Asked whether Verstappen’s comments impacted Norris, Brown replied: “No, not at all. I saw Max’s comments.
“I like Max, I like Max a lot. We’ve had some good chats this year, so I think that’s all part of the sport.
“Lando doesn’t have any issue with it. I don’t have any issue with it.”
