Oscar Piastri’s gut-wrenching crash on his way to the grid sank the hearts of his fans watching trackside and around the country.
Nearly one million people tuned in to Sunday’s free-to-air coverage on 10, which could prove to be its biggest day all year.
It was especially agonising for the fans in the Piastri Stand, who were completely kitted out in green and gold t-shirts to mark the occasion.
For Piastri, it continued a luckless run at Albert Park.
In 2023, he finished eighth. In 2024, he finished fourth, and in 2025 he was on course for a podium only to slip off in the rain and finish ninth after getting bogged in the wet grass.
Only five Australians have ever raced in their home grand prix during its world championship era – Piastri, Jack Doohan, Mark Webber, David Brabham, and Alan Jones – and they all have a story.
Alan Jones
It goes without saying that not every driver had a car capable of winning.
That was certainly the case for 1980 champion Jones, who made just two starts at home.
After winning the world championship with Williams, Jones continued for one more year with the team in 1981 before announcing his retirement.
However, that was short-lived, and in 1983 he returned with Arrows for a one-off start. He missed the 1984 season in its entirety before a full-time comeback in 1985 with the Carl Haas-owned Team Haas.
Jones made 19 starts with Team Haas and was only classified in five of them in the twilight of his F1 career.
In the 1985 Australian Grand Prix, his Lola THL1 suffered an electrical issue. Then, in 1986, the engine of his THL2 let go. After that race in Adelaide, he retired indefinitely.
David Brabham
There are very few F1 careers as unusual as David Brabham’s.
After winning the 1989 British Formula 3 Championship, Brabham joined the team that traced its lineage back to his famous Formula 1 championship-winning father Jack.
Brabham finished just one of the 14 races he attended behind the wheel of the troubled Brabham BT59.
The 1990 Australian Grand Prix lasted just 18 laps for Brabham as he spun out of the race on lap 18 of 81.
Brabham and teammate Stefano Modena were replaced at the new-look Yamaha-powered team in 1991 by Martin Brundle and Mark Blundell, and the Australian turned towards sports cars.
However, an opportunity to return to F1 came in 1994 with Simtek. Brabham failed to score points in a year punctuated by the death of his teammate Roland Ratzenberger.
Brabham was one of 14 retirements in the 1994 Australian Grand Prix. After 49 laps, his Ford engine cried no more.
Mark Webber
Mark Webber made his Formula 1 debut at home in 2002 with Minardi, finishing a standout fifth in an incredible race of attrition in which only eight of the 22 cars finished.
Webber was ceremoniously hauled onto the podium in front of his adoring home crowd – though that would be the only time he ever got up there as a driver.
After retirements in 2003 and 2004 with Jaguar, Webber moved to Williams where he qualified third at home. However, it wasn’t to be on race day.
A fast-starting David Coulthard beat Webber into Turn 1 and kept the Australian at bay. While Giancarlo Fisichella controlled proceedings, 11th- and 13th-place starters Rubens Barrichello and Fernando Alonso strategised their way through to second and third respectively, leaving Coulthard and Webber in fourth and fifth by the race’s end.
Webber suffered four DNFs in 12 starts. In 2006, his Williams suffered a transmission failure and in 2008 he was mired in a Lap 1 melee at Turn 3.
The best he would finish was fourth in 2012 after spending the lion’s share of the race staring at the gearbox of Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren.
Daniel Ricciardo
Who could forget the 2014 Australian Grand Prix?
Tens of thousands of Formula 1 fans jammed into Albert Park finally thought the curse had been broken.
Indeed, Daniel Ricciardo did stand on the podium that year. However, the result was soon snatched away from him over a fuel flow breach and he was disqualified.
All of this, in his first race with Red Bull – the year in which he beat teammate and 2013 champion Sebastian Vettel.
Ricciardo twice finished fourth in the Australian Grand Prix across 2016 and 2018.
Like Piastri, Ricciardo suffered his own pre-race turmoil. In 2017, his Red Bull ground to a halt leaving the pits. He returned to the race several laps down, but retired halfway through.
The 2019 Australian Grand Prix lasted the best part of 100 metres before his Renault hit a drain that tore the front wing off in spectacular fashion.
Jack Doohan
Jack Doohan made just one start at home in 2025, and it lasted less than a lap.
Just five turns into the race, Doohan suffered one of the all-time tank slappers. His car whipped from left to right before spinning 180 degrees and into the outside wall.
