Nico Rosberg suggests pressure may be behind Carlos Sainz's "terrible start" to his 2022 campaign with Ferrari.
Sainz scored consecutive podium finishes in Bahrain and in Saudi Arabia, although he was outpaced in both races by his Scuderia teammate Charles Leclerc.
But in Australia, Sainz suffered his worst weekend since he joined Ferrari in 2021.
In qualifying at Albert Park, the Spaniard appeared to be put off his game by a technical issue that left him P9 on the grid, while Leclerc led the field.
Unsettled by his qualifying deficit, Sainz lacked patience on race day and was caught out by his cold tyres at the outset which led to him beaching his Ferrari on the second lap of the race.
Ahead of this weekend's round of racing at Imola, Ferrari confirmed Sainz's allegiance to the Scuderia until the end of 2024, a psyche-boosting piece of news for the driver, at least theoretically.
But the 27-year-old celebrated the event with another qualifying debacle, the #55 Ferrari clouting the barriers in Q3, leaving its driver a disappointing P10 in the pecking order for Saturday's Sprint.
"Being in a Ferrari and fighting for race wins and championships all of a sudden is the ultimate pressure situation in Formula 1 – it doesn't get tougher than that really, mentally," Rosberg told Sky Sports F1.
"Maybe we're seeing him having some difficulties with adjusting to that situation, especially having Leclerc, who is on fire at the moment and is performing so incredibly well."
Sainz is still third in F1's Drivers' standings, but the gap to Leclerc has swollen to 38 points.
But the Spaniard's deficit coupled with his string of mistakes have left him looking second best to Leclerc and at risk of becoming a support act for the Monegasque sooner rather than later.
"Maybe we're seeing the stress get to him a little bit," added Rosberg. "He needs to figure that out and, of course, use those mistakes going forward.
"This has been a terrible start to the season so far, including this [qualifying crash]."
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