Nico Rosberg has just said something about Oscar Piastri for the ‘first time’ that will leave Lando Norris gutted

Oscar Piastri leaves the Canadian Grand Prix with a 22-point advantage over Lando Norris, after the pair collided in the closing stages of the race.

Norris had hit the back of Piastri while fighting over fourth place, with the Briton damaging his front suspension and retiring on the spot after hitting the inside barriers on the start/finish straight.

Piastri was able to continue and finish in fourth place, while Norris scored zero points. The Briton admitted defeat in the aftermath of the clash, with the pair seen making amends in the media pen afterwards.

It was a defining moment of the championship battle between the pair, and Nico Rosberg summed up what the main takeaway was after seeing the scenes of Norris walking back from his stricken McLaren when speaking on Sky Sports.

Nico Rosberg thinks Oscar Piastri is now the 2025 title favourite

Piastri’s advantage in the points table now puts him nearly a race victory ahead of Norris, despite the Briton leading the championship in the first five races.

Norris headed into the year as the title favourite after his finish in Abu Dhabi last year, but Rosberg now thinks the outcome of the Canadian GP has changed the competitive outlook of the title race.

“For me today it was a watershed moment out there. I would say it’s the first time to say that Oscar Piastri is the big favourite to win that championship this year. I was always on Lando’s side and thought he would clean things up, but Oscar is just so strong. He’s delivering zero mistakes,” said Rosberg.

“I’ve seen one mistake in the last two years and horrible conditions at Melbourne, that’s it. He’s always there, a big favourite Oscar Piastri.”

Lando Norris right to admit he was at fault for collision

Norris immediately held his hands up for the collision in the aftermath, with the Briton saying to his engineer over team radio: “My fault. Sorry. Stupid from me.”

It’s unusual to hear a driver admit they were at fault for a collision unless it was blatantly obvious, especially as they don’t want to implicate themselves in any stewards investigation.

But it enables Norris to draw a line under the whole saga and move on, especially now F1 heads into the important European swing of races.

Norris knows he has a bigger job and must now finish ahead of Piastri at more events, and the next few are ones that have been favourable to him in previous years.