30 June 2024 , 07:51
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Nico Rosberg won’t have been impressed with Lando Norris’s latest brutal piece of performance analysis.
The British star, who has emerged as a genuine challenger to Max Verstappen this season, is often hard on himself, lambasting his own performances should they fall short of his lofty personal standards. The latest instance was following the Austrian Grand Prix Sprint, where he and McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri put Verstappen under pressure in the early phase of the race.
On lap five, Norris boldly overtook the Red Bull down at turn three, only to be repassed by Verstappen on the run-down to turn four. With Norris running wide, it paved the way for Piastri to take second spot, and that is how the top three stayed.
When asked about the move, Norris pulled no punches and branded himself an 'amateur'. He said: "I think once things settle in too much, once the tyres get too hot, it's difficult to do too much, so I had to make the most of my opportunity.
"Then I messed it up and left the door open like an amateur. Like I said, some things to improve, but we're there and we can definitely give them a fight tomorrow."
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Such an unforgiving judgement goes against Rosberg's plea from earlier this season when the 2016 world champion encouraged Norris to take it easy on himself. The German wasn't impressed when he heard Norris had made a bet with his engineer over how he would perform against the Ferraris in China back in April.
To his surprise, Norris lost the bet after outpacing both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz on his way to finishing second behind Verstappen. Commenting on Sky Sports, Rosberg questioned his attitude, saying: "He's a little bit of a 'glass half empty' guy, you know?
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Nico Rosberg demanded more positivity from Lando Norris earlier this season ((Image: Getty))"Pre-race betting that Ferrari are going to beat them... well I don't know. I don't think that's the best approach in general. I think more positivity would be helpful."
Norris again sounded downbeat after qualifying second for Sunday's race, a hefty 0.4 seconds behind Verstappen. Asked if he could pose a challenge for victory in the 71-lap race, he responded: "It wasn't amazing today.
"We are going to need something extra to go our way in order to beat Max. I will try, and I will do a better job than I did this morning. It is a long race and anything can happen, so let's see."