Verbal battles go on: Marko says McLaren is purposefully 'causing unrest'

Helmut Marko has hit back at Zak Brown after he recently faced criticism from McLaren. The Austrian suggested that Lando Norris was mentally weaker than Max Verstappen. The 81-year-old, however, stresses that Zak Brown is twisting his words in order to play "games", which Marko believes are deliberately causing unrest between the two teams.

Ahead of the United States Grand Prix weekend at the Circuit of the Americas, Marko argued that Norris is mentally weaker than Verstappen. As an example, he pointed to the McLaren driver's starts, who often lost his pole position in the first lap. After all, the Brit did lose first place once again after starting first in Austin. "There was a fuss again just because I said Norris is a bad starter," he says in conversation with OE24.

The 81-year-old Austrian faced criticism due to his supposed mental health comment but stressed that this wasn't what he was referring to. The fierce reactions from Zak Brown and team boss Andrea Stella were mainly due to this comment. "I never mentioned mental health, I just said that Max is mentally stronger," Marko explained. "You cannot twist the wording. They are deliberately causing unrest. But we know Zak Brown's games, he deliberately causes unrest wherever he can." Marko concluded.

Red Bull is battling McLaren for the constructor's championship, and the verbal games began a long time ago. Heading into the Mexican Grand Prix, McLaren are 40 points up on their rivals Red Bull, who have Ferrari just eight points behind them in third place.

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