McLaren CEO Zak Brown says Helmut Marko’s comments on Lando Norris’ perceived “mental weakness” are setting the sport back 10 to 20 years.
In a recent interview with German outlet Motorsport-Magazin, Red Bull advisor Marko weighed up the championship chances of his driver Max Verstappen and McLaren’s challenger Norris, and made a blunt assessment of the latter.
“[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.”
What Marko is likely referring to is Norris’ comments at last month’s Italian Grand Prix, where the Briton made a frank admission about the nerves he feels ahead of a grand prix.
“I still get so nervous for qualifying and for the races, I still get just as excited and just as nervous,” Norris said. “I barely eat anything on Sundays. I struggle to drink anything on Sundays, just because of nerves and just because of pressure.
“I think it’s just about how you turn that into a positive thing. How do you not let it affect you in a bad way, and how can you actually use it in a good way, to help you focus on the correct things?”
Lando Norris, McLaren F1 Team
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
When asked about Marko’s comments by Motorsport.com, Brown said he was disappointed but not surprised. He also feels the 81-year-old’s comments are setting the sport back 10 to 20 years, following the progress that has been made to break the stigma around mental health by various teams and drivers.
“I read Helmut’s comments, which I thought were disappointing but not surprising,” Brown said. “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.
“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.”
Norris has long been open about the mental health issues he faced when he entered F1, and he and his McLaren team have taken a leading role in the industry by working together with the UK-based mental health charity Mind.
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton is another high-profile driver who has openly spoken about his life-long battle with depression and anxiety, comments which were welcomed by Mind, and so has his Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff.
“I have struggled so badly with these things, for months not being able to have a clear thought, but I came to the realisation that it comes with a lot of advantages,” Wolff told Sky Sports F1. “I call it a superpower. This is what I want to give people that have mental health issues as a hope.”
