Racing
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Australian racing figures James Courtney and Garth Tander have hit back at Nico Rosberg and Jacques Villeneuve after the former Formula 1 champions used Sky Sports’ Spanish Grand Prix coverage to question Oscar Piastri’s 2026 form and standing.
The criticism followed a difficult weekend for the McLaren driver in Barcelona, where Piastri finished fifth after late retirements for Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc and came home roughly 25 to 30 seconds behind teammate Lando Norris. Rosberg, the 2016 Formula 1 world champion, said Piastri’s “market value has taken a bit of a plunge over the last few weeks and months” and warned that he “really needs to work on that now because he’s falling behind” Norris.
Villeneuve, the 1997 Formula 1 world champion, went further in the same discussion. He said Piastri “collapsed” late last season, “hasn’t recovered,” and that “nobody’s talking about him anymore” in the space of “six months, even less.”
That verdict drew a sharp response from Tander when the 2007 Supercars champion spoke to MotorRacing 360. “He’s only five points behind Lando,” Tander said. “Oscar didn’t have a great weekend at Barcelona, but that’s one weekend.”
Tander argued the broader picture does not support Rosberg and Villeneuve’s view of Piastri’s value. He said that if seats opened at Red Bull or Mercedes, Piastri would still be among the first names considered, adding: “His name will be at the top of every team’s list if there was availability to get him.”
Courtney, the 2010 Supercars champion, made a similar case, shifting the focus from Piastri alone to McLaren’s overall level this season. “I think it’s a pretty harsh summary of his season,” Courtney told MotorRacing 360. “McLaren as a team hasn’t shined, so then it’s hard for him to look good.”
He said McLaren’s drop from last year’s benchmark has shaped how both drivers are being judged, adding that the team “had a dominant car and great performances over the last 18 months up until this point,” but that “this year, just as a team, they’ve struggled.” Courtney then aimed directly at the Sky criticism: “For [Rosberg and Villeneuve] to come out with that, I think it’s incredibly harsh. Maybe they’ve just been out of it a little too long.”
The pushback matters because Barcelona did not leave Piastri adrift in the championship despite the scale of the gap to Norris on Sunday. He remained only five points behind his teammate and has still taken two podiums this season, in Japan and Miami, even as McLaren has not matched its previous standard.