Nico Rosberg identifies F1 driver who is “a champion in the making”
The McLaren driver has shone in the most recent two grands prix, including on home soil at Silverstone, by placing his upgraded car on the podium.
Norris’ pair of second-place finishes, behind only the dominant Max Verstappen, makes him a threat heading into this weekend’s F1 Belgian Grand Prix and offered a reminder of his potential.
“Lando is a champion in the making - he's world class,” 2016 F1 champion Rosberg told Sky.
“He's incredible as a young driver.
“He has so much support, it's really amazing to see. It can be a bit overwhelming sometimes also for young drivers to have so much attention and so much support.
"F1 has taken on dimensions now that it didn't have five or seven years ago.
“There's people [at] your hotel, you can't go out anymore, even at your home!
“It's really going quite extreme. So, I hope Lando manages to cope with all that attention."
Norris’ improved form is backed up by the impressive finishes from teammate Oscar Piastri, as McLaren have established themselves as the second-quickest car in the past month.
"The McLaren car is the real deal, that's confirmed now,” Rosberg said.
“Of course there's a very extreme track change now to Spa, but we've seen how rapid the McLaren is on the straights, so it should be fine there as well.
“It's such an impressive technical development that they've done during the season.
“That's so unusual for a team to make such a massive jump, from like 13th to second.
“They're challenging for the race win now, it's coming, that race win.
“It's unbelievable what they've done. I hope they understand it 100 per cent themselves - sometimes I'm not too sure if they really understand everything because these aerodynamics are just so complex with the ground effect.
“It's very, very difficult to fully understand in the wind tunnel.
"It's much more easy to see flow on top of a car than underneath because underneath then it also changes so much, with angle and with ride height, you know there's very rapid effects going on there.
"But if they do understand it 100 per cent, it's phenomenal. And they don't even have their new wind tunnel up and running, they're still using their old wind tunnel, which we know has massive limitations, so wow, incredible."
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
