Rosberg makes ‘Hammer Time’ comparison after critical mistakes from Norris

Unable to chase down Oscar Piastri after three mistakes in the final laps at Spa, Nico Rosberg says he doubts someone like Lewis Hamilton would’ve made the same errors as Lando Norris.

Norris had to settle for second place at the Belgian Grand Prix, crossing the line 3.4s down on his team-mate Piastri in McLaren’s sixth 1-2 of the season.

Lando Norris made three critical errors in the closing laps at Spa

But unlike the previous two in Austria and Silverstone, this one didn’t go Norris’ way despite the Briton starting on pole position in a rain-delayed Grand Prix.

The first four laps were completed behind the Safety Car with Norris hoping to take advantage of a rolling start, but Piastri was all over his rear wing and used the slipstream to pass him down the Kemmel Straight and into Les Combes.

The McLaren drivers then set up an interesting strategy game when they pitted for slick tyres, race leader Piastri going onto the medium Pirelli rubber and Norris, the hard.

Although Piastri managed his tyres well, Norris had the better speed in the closing laps and it looked as if he could chase his team-mate down, only to make three costly mistakes and lose time.

More on Lando Norris’ P2 finish at the Belgian Grand Prix

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Norris explained to Sky F1: “I had a couple of lock-ups in Turn 1, I went off in Pouhon, I had a big bump. I lost a couple of seconds there.

“At the same time, Oscar made some mistakes as well. It’s just the conditions were tricky. I’m sure everyone makes mistakes like that.

“Especially for me, when I was trying to gain that time, I had to push. I couldn’t just chill.

“And when you’re playing on the edge like that, you’re going to make some mistakes. But that’s racing, that’s life.”

But while the Briton was philosophical about his mistakes, it’s not the first time that errors from Norris have cost him out on track.

Rosberg says it’s mistakes Norris shouldn’t be making, stating a champion like Lewis Hamilton wouldn’t have made those sorts of critical errors as he engaged Hammer Time in the fight for a Grand Prix win.

“That’s fair play,” the 2016 World Champion said of Norris’ comment.

“To listen to Lando’s words there, that he was just qualifying lap after qualifying lap on the absolute edge, and then perhaps a couple of mistakes like that happen.

“I just question whether someone like Hamilton, if he also would have made three mistakes, which I’m not sure.

“Pushing like crazy in a race like that, when there’s Hammer Time, I’m not sure. I think they don’t happen then, those three mistakes.”

But if you ask Ralf Schumacher, Norris’ critical error wasn’t the three late in the race, it was letting Piastri overtake him at the start of the race.

That meant Piastri was the first of the team-mates to pit with that extra lap on track costing Norris when returned to the track nine seconds down on the Australian driver.

“If Lando had been a little smarter, he would have had the breathing space he needed,” Schumacher told Sky Deutschland.

“He was a tad too slow, oversteered coming out of the first corner, and then it was relatively easy for Piastri.

“He should have pushed harder, then he was at a big disadvantage.

“By stopping a lap later, he simply had a gap that he never closed again. The out-lap on the hard tyres also took too long.”

Piastri’s sixth victory of the season saw him move 16 points clear of Norris in the race for the F1 2025 World title.

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