Nico Rosberg raises Lando Norris concern after “big mistake”

Nico Rosberg says Lando Norris made a “big mistake” by colliding with McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri in the F1 Canadian Grand Prix.

Norris tangled with Piastri as he attempted to overtake his teammate as they battled over fourth place in the closing stages of Sunday’s race in Montreal.

The Briton retired with damage and immediately came over team radio to apologise for his “stupid” move on Piastri, who was able to finish fourth.

Analysing the incident, 2016 F1 world champion Rosberg described Norris’s error as “very strange”.

“First of all we’re thankful to McLaren to let them race. There was a lot of excitement and it was an amazing battle to watch the two of them go head-to-head,” Rosberg told Sky Sports F1.

“Lando did an amazing first lunge into the hairpin, that was beautiful. Then afterwards it was just very strange the mistake that Lando made. Super super strange.

“It’s just one more mistake of the many, and this is a big mistake. He really committed, he doesn’t back off or anything, he just stays full on throttle which is also a bit strange.

“Full commitment and there’s no gap there, so it’s a bit awkward.”

However, Rosberg thinks McLaren will be able to put the drama behind them quickly.

“This is not too difficult to sort out because Piastri for one is completely aside, he’s not done anything,” he added.

“Lando and Andrea just need to have a talk to him and just understand. You don’t even need to blame because it’s a misjudgement, you need to go through it and understand.”

Rosberg fears ‘negative spiral’ for Norris

Rosberg is concerned Norris, who is renowned for being hard on himself, may end up going into a “negative spiral” about the incident.

“The thing is that it also becomes a little bit traumatic at some point because you also start spiralling negatively down and down,” Rosberg explained.

“You get this reputation of ‘I’m making mistakes, I’m not good enough, I’m making mistakes’ and it starts to get to you in your head.

“I’ve been through this and it gets really dark and especially when you make a mistake like today where everybody can see it and you hit your teammate.

“It’s difficult for Lando to get out of that one.”