[ad_1]
McLaren chief executive Zak Brown has hit back at Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko’s objectionable comments that “Lando Norris is not mentally strong enough” in his title battle with Max Verstappen, saying the Austrian is mocking a social stigma that F1 is trying to to eliminate.
This is not the first time that 81-year-old Marko has crossed the line with his comments. Last year he was accused of racism by talking about Sergio Perez’s “Mexican temperament”, forcing Red Bull to issue a public apology, and now with his comments about Lando Norris in the German media Motorsport-Magazin he seems completely indifferent to the very sensitive issue of mental health.
The Austrian seems to have based his comments on Norris’ statements after the Italian GP on September 1. The Englishman had said then that “i’m still so stressed about the qualifying tests and the race that i can rarely eat anything on sundays.
I struggle to even drink anything, just because of the stress and pressure. It’s all about how you turn that into something positive. How do you stop it from affecting you negatively, how do you use it in a positive way, and how does it help you commit to the right things?” Norris had said then.
Based on all of the above, Zac Brown accused Marko of taking the sport back 10 to 20 years with his related comments, at a time when no one in the sport had even started talking about the need to shake off the stigma of mental health.
“I read Helmut’s comments and found them disappointing, but not surprising”Brown told Motorsport.com. “Lando is something of an ambassador for mental health. Toto (Wolf) has talked about mental health, so I think it’s a serious issue that we’re trying to talk about and bring to the surface.
Mocking this situation is highly inappropriate and sets us back 10-20 years. But some people approach matches like a game, and the tactics they use from a competitive point of view, but I found that in extremely poor taste.”added the McLaren Racing boss.
McLaren has partnered to promote mental health care with British charity Mind, and Norris has been actively involved, speaking publicly for years about the mental challenges he has faced since he first entered Formula 1.
Both Toto Wolff and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton have spoken openly about their personal mental health challenges. Recently, the Briton, in fact, said that the pressure of the matches and the racist behavior that he was the recipient of from his childhood resulted in him suffering from depression from the age of just 13.
[ad_2]