Can Piastri make history?

Oscar Piastri will be looking to make history and become the first home hero to score a F1 podium in what could be the first fully wet Melbourne Australian Grand Prix.

After a thrilling qualifying, Piastri will start today’s 2025 Australian Grand Prix from the equal highest grid position for an Australian on home soil, second.

The only previous occasions a home hero started on the front row in the 40-year history of the Australian F1 Grand Prix were Daniel Ricciardo in 2014 and Piastri’s manager Mark Webber in 2010 and 2013.

The #81 being cheered on by the home fans was just 0.084s away from taking pole position being denied by Lando Norris.

The session echoed 2014 where Daniel Ricciardo sent the crowd into raptures by taking top spot, only for Lewis Hamilton to go even faster in the first session of the V6 Turbo Hybrid era.

Lando Norris denied Oscar Piastri pole. Photo by Steven Tee/LAT Images

Fifteen years later Piastri and Norris took the roles of crowd favourite and spoiling Brit respectively, but the margins were much closer.

However, it still gives Piastri a massive shot at making history.

Whilst Ricciardo put in an unforgettable drive to second place behind Nico Rosberg on Red Bull debut that sparked surreal scenes on the podium, he was unable to keep the trophy as he was disqualified for a breach in fuel flow regulations.

Daniel Ricciardo celebrates on the podium after finishing second at home only four a breach in fuel flow limit to disqualify him.Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

As a result, no Australian has recorded a podium finish since the Formula 1 Grand Prix arrived on the streets of Adelaide in 1985.

Both Ricciardo and Webber got close a number of times, finishing fourth three times.

Webber only scored the result once in 2012 when it became his own, when he had a grip on the position in each of the first four races of the season.

Mark Webber got his best Albert Park result in 2012. Image: Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

Meanwhile, Ricciardo matched the best home finish in 2016 when he had a lonely drive to best of the rest honours, 15s behind Rosberg, Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel.

Daniel Ricciardo’s final Red Bull driver was one of his best on home soil. Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool

The closest he got was 2018 when in his final year at Red Bull, the “Honey Badger” put in an impressive performance to not only rise from eighth on the grid to fourth, but fall just seven tenths behind third placed Kimi Raikkonen.

Unfortunately Webber’s front row starts did not go to plan.

His first attempt in 2010 was a tough one, falling to third behind the fast-starting Felipe Massa off the line, but quickly reclaimed the position.

Mark Webber’s promising 2010 race ended with a clash with Lewis Hamilton. Photo by Paul Gilham/Getty Images/ Red Bull Content Pool

But as the track dried strategy saw Webber fall to fighting the likes of Massa, Alonso and Hamilton for third.

Just two laps from home the Australian, the fight for the podium got ugly as Webber “lost the front end and all downforce” and spun Hamilton at what is now Turn 11.

Webber pitted to get a new front wing, but still emerged with points in ninth as Jenson Button was victorious.

Webber returned to the front row for what became his farewell in 2013 and all eyes were on him, but the dominant RB9 let him down.

A problem with an ECU meant that he could not use his KERS off the start line and Webber was swamped, falling down to seventh before the first corner.

And 2013 Mark Webber struggled off the line. Photo by Paul Gilham/Getty Images/ Red Bull Content Pool

Webber eventually had to settle for sixth by the end of the day.

No matter what Piastri does, history is bound to happen today.

Whilst qualifying has been impacted, there has never been a fully wet Grand Prix held around the streets of Albert Park.

The closest was 2010 when the race started in wet conditions and caused some initial mayhem, but quickly dried out in the early laps.

The last Australian to win the Australian Grand Prix was Alan Jones in 1980 when it was a non championship affair without a full field of F1 drivers at Calder Park.

Piastri knows he is close to history, but knows both conditions and competition will make that task extremely difficult in front of a record crowd.

Fernando Alonso spun in the only wet start at Melbourne in 2010. Image: Fox Sports

“It would be really special to achieve,” Piastri said of winning. 

“I’m not setting my sights too firmly on that, obviously. 

“We’ve got a lot of work to do to maximise the race tomorrow and see what the weather does first, but it would be very special.

“We had a few wet laps here a couple of years ago, so we’ve all done some running on this new layout,” he added of wet laps. 

The country is behind Oscar Piastri. Image: Peter Norton

“But the cars have moved on a lot since then. I can’t even remember if the tyres are the same anymore. Might be, so there are a lot of unknowns for tomorrow. 

“And with this being round one, like Lando said, there are still some question marks about whether some of the characteristics we had in the past are still the same when it rains.”

The 2025 Australian Grand Prix begins at 15.00 AEDT.

Main image: Peter Norton

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