Rosberg gives his take on ‘strange’ Norris/Piastri clash in Canada as he ponders if Mercedes are ‘back’

Nico Rosberg has shared his reflections on a dramatic Canadian Grand Prix weekend, which saw his former outfit Mercedes emerge victorious with a dominant display and McLaren experience their first intra-team clash of the season.

George Russell charged to both pole position and the race win at the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, where Mercedes introduced a new rear suspension aimed at better managing tyre temperatures, with team mate Kimi Antonelli backing him up to score a maiden F1 podium.

It came after McLaren duo Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri dramatically made contact in the closing stages of the encounter, eliminating the former from the race while the latter took the chequered flag fourth to extend his championship lead to 22 points.

Rosberg, F1’s 2016 World Champion and a 23-time Grand Prix winner, was present in Montreal as a Sky Sports F1 pundit, and spoke exclusively to F1.com about the various twists and turns of the race that set up an intriguing second half of the campaign.

Asked for his reaction to what unfolded, Rosberg said: “First of all, Mercedes, are they back? That’s the question mark, because they dominated the weekend.

"We know that this track does suit them, but they also have a new geometry, so is the new geometry maybe the solution for them?

“Then, in the World Championship fight, I think now Piastri has become the favourite. He’s just solid, he doesn’t mistakes, always delivering 100% – that’s super impressive. This weekend, suddenly, I think he’s become the favourite for the championship.”

Rosberg went on to review the collision between Norris and Piastri along the start/finish straight – the German having experienced his own internal battle for the title alongside Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes across the 2014, 2015 and 2016 seasons.

“It’s just a misjudgement,” said Rosberg. “A strange one… a strange misjudgement. But you know, at the end of the race there… it’s a very tough race mentally and your concentration struggles, and that I think led Lando into a misjudgement.”

While Piastri is Rosberg’s favourite for the crown, he is not yet ruling out Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who stayed out of trouble to split the Mercedes drivers in second position and make up some ground in the championship standings.

With 10 rounds of 24 completed, Verstappen is 43 points behind leader Piastri, and 21 points adrift of Norris – the Dutchman pushing to make it a record-equalling five successive world titles next to Michael Schumacher’s 2000-2004 run.

“This helps Max to still hang in there for now, but he needs a better car,” Rosberg added. “I don’t know if Red Bull’s going to be able to deliver that. He’s obviously… he’s the best driver for me out there, but he needs a better car.”