McLaren's team principal from Formula 1 Zak Brown accused the motor sports consultant of "Red Bull" Helmut Marko in bad taste and setting F1 back decades for comments about title contender Lando Norris' mental toughness.
Austrian Marco suggested that Norris had "mental weaknesses" compared to Max Verstappen from "Red Bull" and cited the Briton's pre-race rituals as evidence of his fragile mental state.
24-year-old Lando Norris is an outspoken campaigner for mental health. The Briton is Verstappen's closest challenger for the Formula 1 title, but still trails by 52 points with six rounds remaining in the season.
"I have read Helmut's comments which I find disappointing but not surprising. "Lando has been kind of an ambassador for mental health for a long time," Brown said at a news conference ahead of the US Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.
"Toto Wolff talks about mental health, so I think it's a serious issue that we've tried to talk about to bring it to the forefront. I think it is rather inappropriate to deal with this situation. This sets us back 10-20 years," Zach Brown added.
81-year-old Helmut Marko, who is a former racing driver, has a history of controversial comments.
Last year, the Austrian, who reports to the energy drinks company and is not an employee of the British-based champions, had to apologize after linking the Mexican driver's erratic form to his team "Red Bull" Sergio Perez with his ethnicity.
His comments made headlines in Mexico and on the Internet.