McLaren BAN former F1 world champion from garage in Spa

Lando Norris is seething at the 2023 Australian Grand Prix — Photo: © LAT Images

McLaren

McLaren BAN former F1 world champion from garage in Spa

The team have scrambled to protect their drivers from Nico Rosberg's eerie curse

Dan Davis

Friday 28 July 2023 19:57 Updated: 23:09

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McLaren have taken drastic steps to ban Nico Rosberg from their team garage at the Belgian Grand Prix as they look to protect their drivers from his curse.

After a series of bizarre incidents involving the former Formula 1 world champion, with both Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton affected in Hungary, the constructor have posted a joking picture alongside the caption: "No Rosberg selfies".

Rosberg took a snap in front of Verstappen's Red Bull ahead of qualifying at the Hungaroring last week and just hours later, the world champion was unable to secure pole position, having been pipped by Hamilton's jaw-dropping lap.

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But just a day later and despite his promising track position, Hamilton and his W14 tumbled down the grid moments after lights out, allowing Verstappen to race into the lead and romp away to secure yet another victory this year.

And at a drizzly Spa-Francorchamps, McLaren are desperate to avoid a repeat.

We've seen your jinxing powers, @NicoRosberg. ??#BelgianGP ?? pic.twitter.com/Q3qYsTLQXd
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) July 28, 2023

Rosberg: 'I need to be careful'

Indeed, the mock-up showing a picture of Rosberg surrounded by a red circle and the message warning him away caused a hilarious stir on social media.

Ensuring Rosberg saw their update, McLaren even tagged him in their post, writing: "We've seen your jinxing powers, @NicoRosberg."

After the action in Budapest, Rosberg had openly addressed the curse.

"Yeah, that's not cool. That's not cool at all," he told Sky Sports F1.

"I post, like, on race weekends, I post a picture in the pit lane with a car or something, and that car has gone pretty poorly. So, I need to be careful with that in the future So the back of the back story here is that on Saturday I posted Max's car, and of course he lost the qualifying.

"And then on Sunday I was like, 'go Mercedes,' and I posted Lewis's car and that went completely wrong. So that's the backstory behind this."