McLaren CEO Zak Brown and Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko have been engaged in a war of words since the US GP. The controversy began when Marko made a remark casting doubts on McLaren driver Lando Norris’ mental strength. The comment met with a sharp retort from Brown, who highlighted the good work done by Norris in the mental health sphere.
Now, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has drawn Michael Schumacher into the debate to further defend Norris. Having worked with the seven-time champion in the past, Stella gave some interesting insights into Schumacher’s mentality.
He recalled Schumacher struggling with self-confidence during his time in F1. In order to overcome the adversity, the German drew confidence from those working around him.
Stella said, “Michael seemed very self-confident, but actually his self-confidence came from working with the team. Sometimes he himself was not self-confident at all. The self-confidence came from the work ethic, the work you put into what you do. That’s how you know you’re doing a good job, you see the result and you gain your self-confidence.”
“The self-confidence came from the work ethic, the work you put into what you do. That’s how you know you’re doing a good job, you see the result and you gain your self-confidence,” he explains.
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As per Total-Motorsport, Stella made the remarks in response to Marko’s comment, who claimed Norris does not have “the strongest mentally.” Brown, who was the first to jump to Norris’ defense, found Marko’s comments “disappointing but not surprising.” He went as far as trashing the remark for setting back the good work done by Norris in the mental health space by “10 or 20 years.”
When Marko got in trouble for making xenophobic comments
This is not the first time Marko has found himself in trouble for his outspoken attitude. In 2023, he made some unsavory comments against his own driver, Sergio Perez.
Back then, Marko blamed Perez’s South American heritage for his poor run of performances. After receiving backlash, including calls for his sacking, Marko apologized to Perez for the xenophobic comment.
Among those who criticized Marko was Lewis Hamilton. The Mercedes driver, known to be an advocate for diversity and inclusivity, said a simple apology was not enough. The Briton had said,
“To have leaders and people in his position making comments like this is not good for us moving forward. There are a lot of people in the background that really are combating these kind of things, but it is hard to maneuver if people at the top have mindsets which stop us from progressing. We still have a lot of work to do to make this a more inclusive environment“.
Perez, however, forgave Marko, citing the intention behind the comment not being malicious. The Mexican said through his “personal relationship” with Marko, he knew the Red Bull taskmaster “doesn’t mean it that way.”
