McLaren F1 title challenger Lando Norris has laughed off Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko’s ‘mental weakness’ and ‘rituals’ criticism.
Marko recently suggested that Norris “has some mental weaknesses” that he felt were underlined by “some of the rituals he needs to do to perform well on race day”.
Those remarks drew anger from McLaren CEO Zak Brown, who felt Marko was being insensitive to the fact Norris has previously discussed his mental health struggles in depth.
Brown described the comments as “disappointing” and “in pretty poor taste”, and that Marko had set back the discussions around mental health by “10, 20 years”.
Responding personally to Marko’s words, speaking to British media, Norris replied: “He says I have some rituals but I think some of this is a translation difference. My only ritual is eating my chicken wrap!”
As to getting in the heads of those at Red Bull, Norris added: “Just to beat them is the best way of doing it.
“Red Bull love a little bit more of that, trying to play games and stuff. It used to affect me, now I just find it more amusing.”
Norris knows, however, that trying to rattle Max Verstappen is a non-starter as he feels the three-time F1 champion is one of the strongest mentally in the sport, and is not bothered by remarks designed to try and wind him up.
Norris, who goes into the United States Grand Prix trailing Verstappen by 54 points following Saturday’s sprint in which they finished third and first respectively, said: “I don’t think you can [wind up Verstappen].”
He added: “It is hard. It doesn’t work like that, and Max is one of the people you can get into the head of the least.
“He has weak areas like we saw in Budapest, but he is also a complete driver and he has been in this position before.
“He has had a tougher battle with Lewis [Hamilton] for a championship [in 2021] than he has now. You just need to beat him and beat him consistently.”
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