Lando Norris swatted away Nico Rosberg's 'mentality' comments that went down like a lead balloon at McLaren but the Sky pundit is correct, writes JONATHAN McEVOY - and failure to beat Oscar Piastri this year may threaten to undermine his career

Outside, sun shines on the rowing lake from the 1976 Olympic Games that condemned Montreal to penury. It took a broken city 30 years to pay off the wastefulness of corruption, a billion-pound bill coming in 13 times over budget.

Inside, Lando Norris is grappling with a rising deficit to his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri, 10 points with nine rounds gone and 14 remaining, accumulated by the Australian's five wins to his two.

Heading into the Canadian Grand Prix – and speaking before he qualified a distant seventh on Saturday – he is guarded and, deep down, would rather be undisturbed as he watches the US Open golf on his phone.

He likes golf but the phone serves a second usefulness, as a device of self-protection.

It is deployed so he can occasionally look at it and shrug as if distractedly with (real) boredom and (profound) irritation at what he considers the most tedious question of all time: essentially, whether he possesses the mental fortitude to convert his brilliant talent into the hard currency of world champion status.

The query recurs as he honours a long-observed courtesy of speaking to the travelling pack of British daily newspaper reporters.

Small and a young 25, it is difficult at moments not to feel for him and his predicament.

But these are the standards by which elite sportsmen are judged, whether they like it or not. And the only credible answer they produce comes down to results, and how they obtain them.

If Norris were to beat Piastri, and Max Verstappen, who is 49 points off the leader, he would be transported to a new level of respect. If he fails, it would threaten not only to harm his psychology but undermine his career.

He eschews the notion of momentum in sport being important. Even trying to be polite, you have to dismiss this as a nonsensical proposition. If he managed to obtain momentum he would have strung together back-to-back wins and be leading the title standings.

The question of perfection and the pursuit of it came up, incidentally in the city where Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci, aged 14, scored her immortal and unbeatable 10.

Does Norris believe he needs the same immaculate standard to beat Piastri, who has shown a cool composure in the heat of battle? In recent weeks, Norris was superior in victory in Monaco, where Piastri struggled for rhythm.

Otherwise, Piastri has set the standard, and crucially so in qualifying. Piastri's edge in speed over one lap must be a near-incalculable dent to Norris, for he started the season believing this area was his crucial advantage.

'I don't feel I need perfection to beat Oscar,' declared Norris. 'I'll need to be very good. I always want to achieve perfection, but I don't think that's ever possible.'

One sensed him diluting stress in this assessment. Tell yourself you can only do your best, and you relax a bit. Coping mechanisms are a key ingredient.

Nico Rosberg, the 2016 world champion, suggested in Barcelona a fortnight ago, when Norris made a damaging error in qualifying, that the Briton should engage a psychologist, as he did for a couple of hours a day several days a week when he was up against Lewis Hamilton.

'It was in the head at the end,' said Rosberg, commentating on Sky of the mistake. 'Lando was overdriving from Turn One onwards. You could see him snapping the car and overcooking it, and on the exit always coming off line.

'Piastri is so solid. He always delivers, no mistakes, whereas Lando is a bit the opposite.'

Rosberg's comments – specifically about getting a psychologist – went down badly at McLaren. They privately suggested that the German was trying to 'make a name for himself' by saying things more outlandish than he really believed. No, he was just offering an honest opinion, and the TV coverage was all the richer for it.

He is back with Sky in Montreal this weekend.

Asked about Roberg's views, Norris said, slightly unconvincingly: 'I don't know what he said. I mean, I do all of those things (working on his mindset). He doesn't know what I do. I do stuff to make me better.' He declined to elaborate on what precisely his routine encompassed.

Again, on the question of pressure, Norris spoke of trying to cope in the Formula One limelight, in contrast to the lower series where he made his name in relative tranquility.

He said: 'I try not to think about it (F1's bright lights). Part of me in the early part of my career was thinking about it too much because it was a cool situation to be in, but you shouldn't let it change anything.

'But you are going to get judged more, whether good or bad, but it shouldn't alter the output of what you are trying to achieve.

'Now I am better, not in an arrogant way, of not caring about who is watching and what people are thinking, especially those on the outside. The only opinions I care about are those of my team because they know me.

'I never really know what I am feeling. Same as old. I am excited about going to drive – nothing different from normal.

'Montreal is a fun track to drive. It's tough because of some of the walls on the exits. It takes good commitment. Not the same as Monaco but a lot of it. Because of the kerbs. They are not small, easy ones. It's more of a hit. You have to get the timing right. And you get punished if you don't. It's a challenge.'

As we were saying, it is one of many challenges in a season that will shape Norris's life and times.