Nico Rosberg ‘heard’ that Lando Norris made a subtle change that won him the 2025 Formula 1 title

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Lando Norris made a point after winning the 2025 Formula 1 world championship of thanking his team, both inside McLaren and those who supported his cause away from the track.

His parents were two of the first people to greet him as he parked his McLaren behind a ‘World Champion’ board after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, highlighting their importance to his successful campaign.

After the race, Lando Norris admitted he didn’t want to cry, but the thought of making his parents proud after the sacrifices they made to enable his Formula 1 career eventually got the better of him.

Ralf Schumacher offered Norris some advice last season, telling him to follow in Nico Rosberg’s footsteps and start working with a psychologist, as at times this year, it’s looked like the pressure has got to him.

Rosberg’s similar suggestion went down badly at McLaren, but it appears as though the 26-year-old took his advice.

Now, the 2016 world champion has shared another change Norris has made behind the scenes this season that might have given him the edge in such a tight battle for the drivers’ championship.

READ MORE: McLaren driver Lando Norris’ life outside F1 from parents to celebration

Nico Rosberg says Lando Norris social media change might have won him the 2025 F1 title

Rosberg was speaking to Bernie Collins on Sky Sports F1 (7/12 3:15 pm) and the former F1 strategist said: “It would have been very easy, I’m sure Nico knows much more than I do, but it would be very easy when things start to not go your way to just feel downtrodden, and you can see the championship that you started the year so strongly with just slipping through your fingers.

“It’s about catching that, and you need a team around you. You need your engineers, you need the pit wall, you need your trainer, you need all of those people to lift you back up.”

How the Drivers’ Championship would’ve looked without THAT swap in Monza…🤯

Should Max Verstappen feel aggrieved that Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri swapping places in Monza may have been the difference in the Drivers' Championship?

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Rosberg replied: “But he made changes, so that’s what I’ve heard.

“So, for example, he switched off social media, whereas before he was constantly on social media; it eats you up. So he really did make changes.

“He questioned his approach, he changed things, and then it showed on the race track.

“So, really an effort this year to find all of those improvements within him this year.”

READ MORE: All you need to know about McLaren F1 Team from team principal to engine

‘Disengaged’ Lando Norris steps away from his phone during McLaren press conferences

A report from the Daily Mail has shared more details about Norris’ mindset going into the latter part of the 2025 campaign.

It’s been suggested that Norris seemed ‘throttled by the pressure’ at the beginning of the year, and was ‘disengaged’ during media sessions with British journalists.

McLaren were said to be ‘concerned’ about his mindset, and the help that Norris sought as the year went on proved pivotal to turning around his fortunes.

The advice Norris received from his coaches included, ‘not to read mad online abuse or to dwell on the opinions of others,’ lining up with the change that Rosberg saw in McLaren’s newest champion.

Speaking in his official post-race press conference, he said: “I’ve had to go above and beyond in terms of expanding my group, the people I work with on the track, and more so off the track.

“The amount of people that I have in my corner – not from McLaren but externally: my friends, my family, my coaches, people that help me think in better ways and perform in better ways

“So many people allowed me to go out and be more calm and almost try and not acknowledge the pressure or just perform under pressure and have the second half of the season that I had.”