Helmut Marko drops big hint over Red Bull move for Lando Norris with brutal comparison

Red Bull chief Helmut Marko has taken a telling swipe at Lando Norris despite the British driver having previously been linked with his team. Norris, 24, signed a new long-term deal with McLaren in January this year, ending speculation he was being targeted to partner Max Verstappen in place of Sergio Perez.

And it’s Norris who has since proved the main challenger to the dominance of the Dutchman, who is aiming for a fourth straight F1 title win this season.

Having finally sealed his first Grand Prix win in Miami this season, the former karting world champion has come close in a series of other races.

And while the gap between him and Verstappen is at a healthy 78 points, the championship is not yet deemed to be over with 10 races still to go. Following a summer break, action next resumes in Netherlands from August 23-25.

But there have also been question marks over the temperament of Norris, who has been notably downbeat and self-critical after races. And he took aim at Verstappen after the Austrian Grand Prix in June, after his race was ended following an on-track collision between the pair.

Norris' Australian team-mate Oscar Piastri is now only 32 points off his team-mate, and has a realistic shot at ending the season as the top McLaren driver. And Marko has now seemingly tipped Piastri to do just that, also hinting at the reason why Red Bull didn’t pursue Norris.

“I don’t know what the points difference is between the two McLaren drivers, but it seems Piastri is mentally the stronger one,” he told Sky Germany. “Oscar has gradually closed the gap to Lando and is even faster at times. But we will see how the decision turns out.”

The saga at The Hungaroring also threatened to spark an internal row at McLaren, with Norris eventually adhering to team orders to let Piastri through to take the chequered flag, having initially appeared reluctant. However, chief executive Zak Brown later defended Norris, and insisted the team had learnt from the race.

"I know Lando very well, so I had no doubt that he was going to move over,” said Brown. “ I think we maybe left it a bit too long because they were free to race, and had he made that change of position right away, there were 20-21 laps of racing still to go.

“But it all worked out in the end, there were some learnings there, maybe some better communications amongst us to be a little bit clearer. But like I said, it all worked out in the end.”

McLaren are now second in the constructors’ standings, 54 points off Red Bull. Their last team title came in 1998, while Lewis Hamilton won their most recent driver’s title in 2008.