Zak Brown has hit out at Helmut Marko following the Austrian's claim that Lando Norris has a "mental weakness".

Asked who he thought would win the 2024 title, Marko told Motorsport Magazin's YouTube channel: "Verstappen!"

"He's the best," he added, "he's the fastest and, above all, he has the mental strength to theoretically fight for the world championship more than Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris.

"We know Norris has some mental weaknesses," he continued. "I've read about some of the rituals he needs to do to perform well on race day."

Asked about the Austrian's claim, Brown said: "Lando's very excited for these final six races and the Sprints. He's as focused as ever. He comes into the race weekends like Oscar and like I would imagine all the drivers, very focused on the job at hand, sitting down with his engineers, doing his commercial work, his media work, relaxing, et cetera. So he's very focused.

"I read Helmut's comments, which I thought were disappointing, but not surprising," he added. "Lando has been kind of an ambassador for mental health. Toto's spoken about mental health. So I think it's a serious issue.

"You know, we've tried to talk about bringing it to the forefront and make it okay to talk about. So to maybe, kind of choose poking at that situation, I think, is pretty inappropriate and kind of sets us back 10, 20 years.

"But, you know, it's all fun and games in how some people go racing and what tactics they use from a sporting perspective. But I thought that one was in pretty poor taste."

Asked about comments Max Verstappen is said to have made about Norris, Brown laughed and said: I saw Max's comments. "I like Max. I like Max a lot. We've had some good chats this year, so I think that's all part of the sport. Lando doesn't have any issue with it. I didn't have any issue with it."

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