Nico Rosberg hears Lando Norris team radio hinting at growing concerns inside McLaren

There are questions about where Norris stands in McLaren’s pecking order, especially given there was no team order swap to let him through when he started on soft tyres with Piastri on hards.

And while the crash with Piastri was Norris’ mistake, it still left some fans wondering if there were moments earlier in the race where the team could have managed things better.

Nico Rosberg suggests McLaren may be ‘worried’ about Lando Norris after unheard radio message

Norris is experiencing something he’s ‘not used to’ and, at times, no longer appears to be his team’s number one driver in 2025.

One man who knows a lot about a title fight, as well as having to battle a strong teammate, is Nico Rosberg, who famously beat Lewis Hamilton to a title in 2016.

Nico Rosberg, speaking on the Sky Sports F1 podcast The F1 Show, feels that one of Norris’ radio messages hints at a bit of tension building inside McLaren.

“His engineer is starting to take on the role of a psychologist. The engineer was saying in the race, ‘Lando, let’s reset.’ He said in the heat of the moment in qualifying.

“He came on the radio to Lando, ‘Lando, reset your mental state now.’ He told him what to focus on, Lando. ‘Lando, don’t focus on braking late as possible.’ Because they saw the creeping in again of him exaggerating out on track.

“Him wanting too much, which you see that first in braking points. When drivers start braking way too late everywhere, it’s just drivers wanting too much. The engineer was telling him, ‘Lando reset, Lando, focus on your lines in the corners, that’s what you need to get right and not braking as late as possible.

“So you saw him taking the role of psychologist there. If that’s something that was pre-discussed, then it’s something very nice. If it’s resulting from the team being worried or something, then it’s not so great because it’s not helpful to Lando.”

Why Nico Rosberg thinks Lando Norris avoided a ‘negative spiral’ at the Canadian Grand Prix

Norris’ Montreal mistake resulted in him being classified in 18th place, although he technically retired from the race.

It marks his worst finish since last year’s Austrian Grand Prix (when he tangled with Max Verstappen), and his first finish below fourth this season.

And yet, Rosberg thinks Norris avoided a ‘negative spiral’ by admitting fault and attempting to move on from the incident as soon as possible.

Timo Glock cannot ‘understand’ Norris and believes that the Briton should have backed out of his move before crashing.

After all, he was going in a straight line, and simply appeared to be caught out by a combination of his approach speed and the narrowing space next to Piastri.