F1 fans, much like most other sports fans, love conspiracy theories and superstitions. One of the most prominent of these, and perhaps the funniest, is the Nico Rosberg selfie curse. Lando Norris was supposedly the latest victim of this curse, in Canada. So what exactly is the Nico Rosberg selfie curse?
Nico Rosberg’s selfie curse: Explained
The Nico Rosberg selfie curse is one of funniest F1 related superstitions. Fans believe that whoever or whatever Rosberg takes a selfie with prior to a race, is somehow destined to have a disastrous moment during the Grand Prix.
Rosberg loves to take selfies at race weekends and posts them on his social media. The curse became a running joke after several drivers and teams started encountering issues in races where Rosberg had taken a selfie with their garage, or them in the background.
A major example of Rosberg’s curse came at the Italian GP in 2023. The German took a selfie with the Ferrari pit wall in the background at Monza. The Scuderia then failed to convert a one-two in qualifying, ending their home race in P3 and P4 instead.
Rosberg hilariously cursed both Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton at Hungary in 2023 as well. First he shared a selfie with the Red Bull garage before qualifying, and pole favorite Verstappen missed out on the top spot.
Then he took a selfie with pole-sitter Hamilton’s Mercedes ahead of the race. His old rival then ended up going from first to fourth in the race. The former F1 star also reacted to this hilarious curse that weekend, saying:
“It’s not cool, not cool at all. On race weekends I post a photo of a car, then that car goes poorly. I need to [hit] the pause button.” [via Crash.net]
Lando Norris becomes the latest victim of the Nico Rosberg curse
Nico Rosberg took a selfie in front of Turn 1 at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve ahead of the Canadian Grand Prix. The former world champion must have thought it was safe to do so, as no cars or teams were in the background. But little did he know that he cursed turn 1 instead.
On lap 67/70, Lando Norris collided with the exact wall behind Rosberg in the selfie. He was battling teammate Oscar Piastri for P4 and went into the wall after misjudging a gap on the inside. The Briton lost his front wing and damaged his front suspension, which ended his race then and there.
F1 fans once again jokingly blamed Rosberg for this, claiming that the dreaded curse had returned.
Norris’ crash in Montreal could prove to be a costly one for the Briton. The DNF hurt his championship hopes, as it has now put him 22 points behind his championship leading teammate in the drivers’ standings.
The championship is by no means over. But after 10 rounds, it has to be said that Piastri currently sits in the driver’s seat, after having dominated the majority of the races in 2025.
