Marko responds after Brown lets rip over Norris comment

Helmut Marko has responded to Zak Brown after the McLaren CEO let rip at the Austrian over comments made about Lando Norris.

In the autumn break, Marko was asked for his assessment of the title race between Norris and Max Verstappen, and spoke that he felt Verstappen would have the advantage due to his superior mental strength given Norris's own-sharp self-criticism and struggles. 

At the United States Grand Prix, with the Red Bull bib-T-Tray saga bubbling in the background, Brown offered his first response to Marko's comments, and let rip at the motorsport advisor. 

"I read Helmut's comments, which I thought were disappointing but not surprising," said Brown, speaking to media, including RacingNews365.

"Lando has been an ambassador for mental health. Toto [Wolff, Mercedes team principal] has spoken about mental health.

"It's a serious issue we've tried to talk about, to bring to the forefront, to make it okay to talk about, so to maybe kind of choose, poking at that situation, is pretty inappropriate and sets us back 10, 20 years."

Marko has now responded to Brown's comments.

"I was asked who is going to win the world championship, and then I said that it will be Max, because he is the strongest mentally and because he is the fastest driver," Marko explained to Motorsport Magazin. 

"And if you look at how many times Max wins positions or maintains his position at the start and how Lando does in that, I think [it becomes obvious.]"

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Marko on Red Bull saga

Marko also addressed the ongoing T-tray situation engulfing Red Bull, describing it as a "storm in a teacup" after the FIA completed checks on Friday.

"I would describe it as a storm in a teacup," he said.

"We let the FIA know about it, they knew about this mechanism. 

"Almost all of the teams have different versions of it, and with us, you can only access it by having to remove a relatively large number of parts from the front of the car.

"What was also overlooked was that in parc ferme, the cars are under permanent surveillance [from CCTV], which means it is not possible to change anything."