After two disappointing races in Monza and Baku, Lando Norris finally got back on the top step of the podium in Singapore. He beat his championship rival Max Verstappen by a comfortable margin of almost 21 seconds. However, the F1 community now fears that the Briton may face a ‘Nico Rosberg curse’ and suffer a DNF in Austin.
The reason behind this thought is that Rosberg recently took a selfie with Norris’ car in Singapore and posted it on Instagram, congratulating the McLaren driver on his victory. Rosberg captioned the post, stating,
“Fun weekend in Singapore and congrats to Lando!! Jet Lag is so bad, even my daughter’s bunny is checking if I’m alive.”
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While Norris reciprocated this message with a “Thank you mate,” fans are fearing the worst for him. One fan wrote in the comments,
“NO LANDO IS GONNA DNF NOW ” .
Meanwhile, another wrote, “Nico go away from the car. We need to win a WDC.” While most feared for Norris’ performance only as far as the next race, one fan went as far as to say that Verstappen will now win the championship. “Thank you, Nico!!! So Max Verstappen world champion!!!,” the fan wrote.
Norris might be safe from Rosberg’s curse after all
The Rosberg curse is a lighthearted and fun concept in the Formula 1 community. It’s based on the observation that whenever Rosberg publicly posts a photo in support of a team or driver, they may underperform or encounter misfortune during the race weekend.
However, this has only worked so far when Rosberg posts the photo before a competitive session like qualifying or the race and not after. And since he posted this selfie after Norris had already won the race, the curse might not apply in this situation.
In any case, Norris has a lot of time to prepare for the US Grand Prix thanks to the three-week break after the race in Singapore. The US GP will take place over the weekend between 18 to 20th of October.
Given the nature of the circuit, it is likely to favor Norris and McLaren at this time of the year. While Red Bull initially had a stable car with lots of downforce in fast-flowing sections like the center Ss of COTA and the higher top speeds on long straights, the balance of the RB20 has taken a nosedive and it has become more and more understeery in recent times.
However, the combination of Verstappen in a Red Bull cannot be underestimated as they showed in Singapore. Even though the Marina Bay Street Circuit is not deemed a track that would favor their car, the Dutchman yet finished second and limited the damage.
