Nico Rosberg thinks Max Verstappen would’ve nailed crucial moment that cost Lando Norris the Belgian Grand Prix win

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Lando Norris missed out on a chance to close the gap in the Drivers’ Championship to Oscar Piastri at the Belgian Grand Prix.

The Briton qualified on pole after beating Piastri by 0.083s, but would lose out when his teammate used a slipstream to overtake him on the Kemmel Straight during the first racing lap.

The drivers spent a handful of laps behind the Safety Car following an 80-minute delay to the start due to poor weather, much to the dismay of F1 fans.

When the race finally got underway, Piastri wasted no time and produced an overtaking move for the lead Damon Hill branded ‘extraordinary’ on Norris.

Piastri’s overtake effectively handed him the win, despite a split strategy from McLaren by putting Norris on the hard tyre in a bid to catch up at the end.

Alex Brundle felt Piastri ‘brilliantly’ forced errors out of Norris, while 2016 World Champion Nico Rosberg feels the Briton made a mess of one part of the race when speaking on the Sky Sports F1 podcast.

Nico Rosberg thinks Max Verstappen would’ve nailed Belgian GP restart

Norris was effectively gifted a rolling start by the FIA after Race Control heard complaints from drivers about one side of the grid being wetter than the other.

Although it is usual for a race that was Red Flagged to resume with a standing start, it is done so at the FIA Race Director’s discretion. This is usually in case there is a significant performance loss between one side of the grid and the other, as was the case in Belgium.

When the race did get going, Rosberg felt Norris didn’t take Piastri by surprise like Max Verstappen would at a restart.

“I think he could have done a bit better. Oscar was literally in his gearbox on the restart. It felt like Lando just didn’t nail that, because you can take the guy by surprise,” said Rosberg.

“Oscar doesn’t know when Lando is going to go, and you can take him by surprise. And that didn’t work out. Then, once Oscar is close, you’re in trouble anyway.

“There was not much more he could have done. I don’t know about his driving through the Eau Rouge, because Oscar got an amazing run through there. I don’t know if Lando lifted a bit more there or what.

“But yeah, just not optimally executed. You’d think that Verstappen would have done it better. That’s kind of the thought that you would have had when you’re looking at.”

Oscar Piastri showed ‘extra bravery’ compared to Lando Norris

The conditions were treacherous in Belgium at the start, as drivers had to contend with increased spray from the cars in front of them, having not driven around Spa in the wet all weekend.

Some drivers opted for wet setups in anticipation of the rain, although it would only end up lasting 11 laps before the first set of drivers came in for slick tyres. Lewis Hamilton climbed up to seventh place after judging the conditions perfectly in his Ferrari, salvaging a result from an otherwise tricky weekend.

Anthony Davidson thinks Piastri simply showed more ‘bravery’ than Norris, and was able to judge his speed in the wet better with his teammate in front.

Piastri quipped that it was “part of the plan” for him to start in second, after being overtaken by Verstappen in the same place from pole during the Sprint race.