Detective Marko finds out Lando Norris’ pre-race rituals in ‘mental weakness’ reveal

Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko claims to have discovered “mental weakness” from Lando Norris after reading up on his pre-race rituals.

While initially it appeared as though Max Verstappen and Red Bull would cruise to their latest title double in F1 2024, McLaren has complicated matters having replaced Red Bull at the top of the Constructors’ Championship, armed with a 41-point lead, while McLaren’s Lando Norris has reduced Verstappen’s Drivers’ Championship lead to 52 points with six rounds to go.

Detective Helmut Marko claims Lando Norris scoop

Verstappen is now without a win in his last eight races, while Norris gave his hopes of mounting a title challenge a further boost with his dominant performance in Singapore which he won by 21 seconds.

But, as the season reaches a critical stage if Norris is to truly ramp up the pressure on Verstappen, Marko has been doing some digging…

“We know that Norris has some mental weaknesses,” he claimed in an interview with Motorsport-Magazin.

“I’ve read about some of the rituals he needs to do to perform well on race day.”

Armed with this apparent discovery, Marko believes Verstappen is the driver who will win the F1 2024 title, in what would mark his fourth consecutive World Championship triumph.

Marko also brought in Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, currently P3 in the standings and 86 points behind Verstappen, when explaining his reasoning.

“He’s the best, he’s the fastest,” said Marko of Verstappen, “and, above all, he has the mental strength to theoretically fight for the World Championship more than Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris.”

How the F1 2024 standings would look minus Max Verstappen and Red Bull

👉 The F1 2024 Drivers’ Championship standings without Max Verstappen

👉 Revealed: The F1 2024 Constructors’ Championship without Red Bull

This is the first time that Norris has found himself in the F1 title picture, but rather than getting himself caught up in thinking about that situation, he feels it would be “stupid” to do anything other than take each race as it comes.

“For me, the less I can think about it the better,” he told The Athletic. “It’s hard when every question is basically just about that, you know?

“For me, it’s not trying to think of the bigger picture in a way. By doing that, and just focusing on one race at a time, or what I have to do tomorrow, then Saturday, then Sunday, I’m not thinking, ‘I need a good weekend this weekend, so I can do this next weekend.’

“It’s just stupid to think like that, I think.

“I don’t feel like I’m going out now like, ‘Oh God, I have to do this because I’m fighting for a championship.’ I’m not thinking of it like that at all, honestly.

“It’s more just putting that little bit more pressure on making the right decisions at times, knowing that certain decisions maybe have a bit more meaning or can have a bigger meaning.

“I’m definitely driving better now than I ever have. You’re always adding to that side of it. But you’re getting to a point where more is done for the mental side and how you approach things, than actually driving the car two-hundredths quicker.”

Norris has six grands prix and three sprints left in his bid to overhaul Verstappen and become World Champion for the first time.

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