Zak Brown dismisses fierce Australian Lando Norris criticism

Zak Brown has dismissed fierce criticism made by 1980 world champion Alan Jones towards Lando Norris's mentality.

Norris has been open with his mental struggles through his career, and labelled himself as "clueless" following a qualifying mistake in Bahrain left him sixth on the grid and was critical again following a crash in Q3 in Saudi Arabia. 

Team-mate Oscar Piastri won both of those races, and a third grand prix on the trot in Miami, where McLaren CEO Brown was asked about the comments of Australia's second world champion, Jones.

The former Williams racer, renowned for his forthright and 'call a spade a spade' attitude, tore into Norris, calling him "a weak person" and describing Norris's mental struggles as "nonsense."

Responding to Jones' comments, Brown supported Norris, as well as offering a theory as to why Jones had made such comments.

"No, I don't think he is right," Brown told select media including RacingNews365 when asked about Jones' comments.

"I have his 1980 championship car for full disclosure, but he is a fellow Aussie and I think it is easy and understandable for people to have a view on other people looking from the outside in.

"Lando is very open with his comments, and you see different athletes talking about what they've done in different ways, some don't talk about it at all, some talk about it a lot, it is a way for them to get it out of their system and move on.

"I spent quality time with Novak Djokovic, which was fascinating on how he uses his range of emotions to perform. 

"So no, I didn't agree with [Jones'] comments, but understand why he might have that view. He was a tough guy, right, so he's not someone who would roll like that, but it is just one person's opinion."