Nico Rosberg’s advice for Lando Norris as greatest weakness identified

Nico Rosberg has pinpointed “mental fragility” as Lando Norris’s biggest weakness in his hopes to win a maiden F1 world championship.

The British driver’s quest to claim his first world title took a blow at the Canadian Grand Prix when he ran into the back of Oscar Piastri while attempting to overtake his McLaren teammate for fourth place in the closing stages and suffered race-ending damage.

With Norris retiring on the spot, and Piastri holding onto fourth, he has fallen 22 points adrift in the F1 championship standings after the opening 10 rounds of the 2025 campaign.

2016 world champion Rosberg believes Norris’s costly mistakes are directly linked to his mentality.

“Lando as you mentioned, it's been his Achilles heel this year hasn't it, his mental fragility, his doubts, and they came to the fore again now in Montreal," Rosberg told the Sky Sports F1 Show.

"It's just when the pressure is highest there's these little mistakes that creep in.

"They crept in in qualifying where in Q3 he made two major mistakes on his two important laps which meant he only had seventh place on the grid with one of the fastest cars.

"In the heat of the moment, in the most critical moment where he was trying to pass his championship rival he did a very strange misjudgment, just driving right into the back of him.”

Should Lando Norris consider a psychologist?

Rosberg, who has reached out to Norris offering support on several occasions, has advised the McLaren driver to work with a sports psychologist.

The German credits a psychologist for helping improve his emotions and performance during the 2016 season when he pipped Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton to the world title.

“Lando, just like I was, is a little bit more of a sensitive person,” Rosberg explained. “You have a little bit more self-doubts, you are a little bit more insecure. That’s just the way we are and he is.

“That can also be a strength because that’s the kind of person who will question himself more, who will work more on himself rather than being overly confident like ‘I’m the greatest in the world’ who mostly attributes blame to other people and doesn’t question himself so much.

“So there’s like pros and cons. But of course, the more sensitive people, they are more scared and have more going on in their heads. There’s a lot going on up there.

“There’s a chance to improve your mental performance if you work on it. I actually worked with my psychologist for two hours every two days during the entire winter period, and then during the season as well.

“It was extremely intense. Harder than the physical workouts but it gave me so much, because you learn lifestyle design.

“We hear about Lando eliminating Instagram. That’s one part of the puzzle, because Instagram and all those negative comments consumes you, it eats you up. So deleting that is perfect, a very good step. There’s 15 other steps you can make.”