After his costly F1 mistake in Canada, Lando Norris faces mental pressure. Rosberg warns of a downward spiral impacting McLaren’s performance.
Nico Rosberg is concerned that Lando Norris may not easily escape the spiral he finds himself in. According to the 2016 world champion, the McLaren F1 driver might start to over-question himself and end up in a very difficult situation.
“The fact is, it becomes a bit traumatic at some point because you start falling into a negative spiral, down and down, and you have this repetition of mistakes – I’m not good enough, I’m making errors,” Rosberg noted on Sky Sports F1.
“There’s also the fact that you can’t afford to make mistakes. Especially when you make an error like this, that everyone can see, when you even hit your teammate and the whole team is wondering what’s going on – it’s hard for Lando to get out of that.”
The former driver did appreciate the great battle that preceded the clash: “First of all, we’re grateful to McLaren for letting them race, because it brings us a lot of excitement. It was an incredible battle to watch, both of them going head-to-head, and Lando made an amazing first lunge into the hairpin. It was beautiful.”
“Afterwards, the mistake Lando made is very strange. Very strange. And it’s just one more mistake among many. And it’s a big one. He’s really committed. He doesn’t lift. He stays flat out, which is also a bit strange, such total commitment, and there’s no gap. It’s a bit embarrassing.”
The German did, however, appreciate how McLaren handled the situation, even if he thinks it’s not too problematic yet for team boss Andrea Stella: “It’s not too difficult to manage, because Piastri didn’t do anything.”
“With Lando, Andrea just needs to have a conversation with him and understand. You don’t need to assign blame because it’s a judgment error, but you do need to go through it and understand.”