Zak Brown slams Helmut Marko over ‘disappointing but not surprising’ Lando Norris comments

McLaren boss Zak Brown has criticised Helmut Marko for questioning Lando Norris’s mental strength, describing the Red Bull chief’s comments as “disappointing but not surprising.”

Norris is locked in a fascinating F1 2024 title battle with reigning World Champion Max Verstappen , with the McLaren driver trailing the Red Bull man by 52 points with six races remaining.

McLaren respond to Helmut Marko questioning Lando Norris mental strength

Additional reporting by Elizabeth Blackstock

Having claimed his maiden F1 victory at the 110th time of asking in Miami in May, Norris has steadily built a title charge as the F1 2024 season has developed, converting pole positions into further wins in the Netherlands and Singapore.

However, Norris has spurned a number of opportunities to reduce the gap to Verstappen with his race starts coming under the microscope after poor getaways in Spain and Belgium at the mid-season stage.

Norris cut a frustrated figure after the race at Spa in July, telling media including PlanetF1.com that he needed to “reset” after “giving away a lot of points” with “stupid stuff and mistakes.”

The 24-year-old went on to acknowledge that he was “probably trying a bit too hard and paying the price.”

McLaren domination? How the F1 2024 title race would look without Max Verstappen and Red Bull

👉 The F1 2024 Drivers’ Championship standings without Max Verstappen

👉 Revealed: The F1 2024 Constructors’ Championship without Red Bull

Marko, the long-serving Red Bull adviser, recently drew attention to Norris’s temperament, claiming that the British driver needs to perform certain “rituals” in order to perform at his best on track.

He told German publication Motorsport-Magazin : “We know that Norris has some mental weaknesses.

“I’ve read about some of the rituals he needs to do to perform well on race day.”

Marko suggested Verstappen’s mental strength is likely to prove pivotal in his bid to fend off Norris and secure a fourth consecutive title in F1 2024, adding: “He’s 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’s latest comments came after he claimed in August that Norris’s team-mate, Oscar Piastri, is “mentally the stronger one” of the two McLaren drivers.

Speaking to media including PlanetF1.com in the team principals’ press conference ahead of tomorrow’s United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, Brown voiced his disapproval of Marko’s comments.

And he claimed that the 81-year-old has “set us back” up to two decades in the “serious” conversation over mental health, with Norris open about his struggles since arriving in F1 at the beginning of 2019.

Brown said: “Lando’s very excited for these final six races and the sprints. He’s as focused as ever.

“He comes into the race weekends, like Oscar and like I would imagine all the grand prix drivers, very focused on the job at hand, sitting down with his engineers, doing his commercial work, his media work, relaxing, etcetera, so he’s very focused.

“I read Helmut’s comments, which I thought were disappointing but not surprising.

“Lando has been an ambassador for mental health, Toto [Wolff, Mercedes boss] has spoken about mental health.

“So I think it’s a serious issue that we’ve tried to talk about, to bring to the forefront, make it OK to talk about.

“So to [be] poking at that situation, I think is pretty inappropriate and 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.”

Following his emotional outburst at Spa, former F1 driver and FIA steward Johnny Herbert urged Norris to be less transparent with his feelings, airing his concern that the McLaren driver is handing a psychological advantage to his rivals by being so open.

He said: “Lando is very honest, but in my opinion it is something he should have kept to himself and not shared to the world.

“I would have tried to correct the errors but I wouldn’t tell the world what I was feeling because that is something that other drivers will try to use to their advantage.

“He is under pressure but as a GP winner now he should be able to cope.”

McLaren, who with a current 41-point lead are on course to claim their first Constructors’ title since 1998, have been embroiled in a war of words with Red Bull since Norris and Verstappen collided while battling for the lead in the closing stages of the Austrian Grand Prix in June.

Speaking to select media including PlanetF1.com at the following race at Silverstone, Brown accused Red Bull of having a “win-at-all-costs mentality” with McLaren unprepared to resort to “nasty” tactics.

He said: “We’re prepared to go toe to toe. ‘Nasty’ is not how McLaren goes racing.

“I think you can go to toe-to-toe, but you don’t have to be nasty about it. They seem to, at times, have a win-at-all-costs mentality. That’s not how we go racing.

“But we think you can go toe to toe and take the fight to them our own way.”

Read next: Explained: Why Red Bull’s adjustable bib isn’t being punished by the FIA