2016 world champion Nico Rosberg has warned Oscar Piastri that his "market value" has likely taken a hit in recent months, with the Australian "falling behind" Lando Norris.
With the exception of the Japanese Grand Prix, where Piastri had a strong chance of victory until an unfortunately timed safety car, he has struggled throughout the campaign so far.
The new power unit regulations have proven challenging for the McLaren driver, who finished 25 seconds adrift of Norris in Barcelona.
While Norris remained within touching distance of both Mercedes drivers, Piastri was nowhere to be seen and would have finished seventh had it not been for the late retirements of Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc.
Piastri's failure to start the opening two races has not helped his season, although it had appeared he had turned a corner in Japan and Miami.
His deficit to Norris in Barcelona, however, was particularly alarming, with Rosberg believing the 25-year-old needs to figure out what is going wrong.
Asked for his thoughts on Piastri's form, Rosberg told Sky F1: "Yeah, things aren't going too well for him of late.
"His market value has taken a bit of a plunge over the last few weeks and months.
"It's a bit unexpected because last year he was really on a par with Lando all the time, and this year Lando has jumped ahead somewhat with these new regulations and the new cars.
"Oscar isn't feeling too comfortable yet, so it's a bit strange, and he really needs to work on that now because he's falling behind."
Originally published by RacingNews365 —
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