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Man of Many
2 days ago
- Automotive
- Man of Many
Where Oscar Piastri Ranks Amongst Australia's Greatest F1 Drivers
With a win at the 2025 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, Oscar Piastri tied Daniel Ricciardo with eight Formula 1 race wins. Now, the 24-year-old has his sights on his manager Mark Webber's total of nine and, more importantly, winning his first Formula One World Championship. While he still has some achievements to lock in before he challenges Australian F1 greats like Alan Jones and Sir Jack Brabham for the top of the all-time drivers rankings, Oscar Piastri is on track to become the first Australian Formula One World Champion since Alan Jones in 1980. Should he achieve this, his name will go down in history with the greats of Australian motor racing, but some would argue he's already in that conversation. Today, we're taking a retrospective look at the achievements of the greatest Australian F1 drivers. If you want to see how Oscar Piastri compares to the greats in wins, podiums, and points in his short but successful career, read on. Jack Brabham pushing his car across the line to win 1959 Formula One World Championship | Image: Supplied Has There Ever Been an Australian F1 World Champion? Year Champion Points* Wins Podiums 1959 Jack Brabham 31 2 5 1960 Jack Brabham 43 5 5 1966 Jack Brabham 42 4 5 1980 Alan Jones 67 5 10 Scroll horizontally to view full table * FIA championship points credited after the season's drop‑score rules were applied. The first Australian F1 driver to win the Formula One World Championship was Sir Jack Brabham. His first of three titles arrived in 1959 when he won the US Grand Prix at Sebring International Raceway on 12 December 1959 by pushing his rear-engined Cooper T51 across the line. He would then back up his efforts a year later by winning the 1960 title behind the wheel of the Cooper T53, which would also secure the Cooper team a constructors' title. Six years later, he won the 1966 championship behind the wheel of his own Brabham BT19 and BT20, powered by a 3.0-litre Repco 620 3.0 V8. Notably, only the best five results from the nine- and ten-race 1959, 1960, and 1966 seasons counted towards the championship. Still, this was no small achievement as Brabham was racing against names like Stirling Moss, Jim Clark, John Surtees, and Jackie Stewart. The last Australian to win a Formula One World Championship was Alan Jones, who took home the 1980 title behind the wheel of a Williams-Ford FW07 and FW07B. He would beat out names like Nelson Piquet, Alain Prost, and Mario Andretti during the 14-race season, winning five races and scoring five fastest laps. Jones would put up a strong fight in the 1981 season, finishing third in the title race, but with Nelson Piquet, Alain Prost, and Nigel Mansell on the up and up, and Carlos Reutemann in peak form, it was going to be tough to mirror the success of the 1980 season. Neither Daniel Ricciardo nor Mark Webber won a Formula One World Championship, but Webber managed to finish third in the championship in the 2010, 2011 and 2013 seasons. Ricciardo managed the same in the 2014 and 2016 seasons. Sir Jack Brabham has the most wins with 14 | Image: Supplied Which Australian F1 Driver Has the Most Race Wins? Driver Total wins First victory Win span Sir Jack Brabham 14 1959 Monaco GP 1959‑1970 Alan Jones 12 1977 Austrian GP 1977‑1981 Mark Webber 9 2009 German GP (Nürburgring) 2009‑2012 Daniel Ricciardo 8 2014 Canadian GP 2014‑2021 Oscar Piastri 8 2024 Hungarian GP 2024‑2025 Scroll horizontally to view full table Oscar Piastri is on track to secure his first Formula One World Championship in 2025, but he's still a ways behind Sir Jack Brabham for outright titles. That said, Oscar has a very good chance of catching Sir Jack for total race wins in the not-so-distant future. Most recently, he tied Daniel Ricciardo with eight race wins after a first-place victory at the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps. His manager, Mark Webber, is next on the list with nine wins before Alan Jones on 12, and finally, Sir Jack Brabham with 14. Mark Webber has the most podiums with 42 | Image: Supplied Who Has the Most Podiums? Driver Career podiums First podium Most‑recent podium Podium span Sir Jack Brabham 31 1959 Monaco GP (P1) 1970 British GP (P2) 1959 – 1970 Alan Jones 24 1977 Austrian GP (P1) 1981 Caesars Palace GP (P1) 1977 – 1981 Mark Webber 42 2005 Monaco GP (P3) 2013 Brazilian GP (P2) 2005 – 2013 Daniel Ricciardo 32 2014 Spanish GP (P3) 2021 Italian GP (P1) 2014 – 2021 Oscar Piastri 21 2023 Japanese GP (P3) 2025 Belgian GP (P1) 2023 – 2025 Tim Schenken 1 1971 Austrian GP (P3) 1971 Austrian GP (P3) 1971 Scroll horizontally to view full table We dislike intergenerational comparisons as much as the next person, but podiums are the toughest to make because of the number of races in a season. The 1959 F1 season had a total of nine races, while the 2025 F1 season has a total of 24 Grands Prix (six of which include an F1 Sprint race). There are more chances to land a spot on the podium, but we don't want to take away from just how hard it is for someone like Daniel Ricciardo, Mark Webber, and Oscar Piastri to get a bottle of Champagne in their hands. With 24 races per F1 season today, Oscar Piastri could easily catch his manager, Mark Webber, within the next two seasons if he continues to win at a high level. Oscar Piastri wins the 2025 Belgian Grand Prix | Image: Supplied Where Does Oscar Piastri Sit Amongst the All-Time Greats? With 21 podiums, eight GP wins, and a real chance at the first Formula One World Championship for an Australian F1 driver in more than 40 years, Oscar Piastri could catch Mark Webber and 1980 F1 Champion Alan Jones quickly to become one of the greatest Australian F1 drivers of all time. If he manages to hold out teammate Lando Norris and win the 2025 World Championship, Piastri would eclipse Jones in the rankings, but where he ranks against Sir Jack Brabham and his pre-ground-effects titles is up for debate. It will be an accomplishment worth celebrating when he catches his manager, Mark Webber, for podiums and wins. However, Piastri likely has more in the tank than a few wins. Still early in his career, he has the potential for more than a few Formula One World Championships if his car, skill, and a little luck can continue to perform at a high level.
TimesLIVE
16-07-2025
- Automotive
- TimesLIVE
The chronicles of a rookie racing driver — Part Six
It's race time again this weekend. On Saturday, the 2025 Extreme Tour powered by Coca-Cola comes to the Prince George Grand Prix circuit in East London. The venue is a semi-permanent circuit and incorporates sections of public roads which are closed when racing and practice sessions are under way. It has a rich history, opening in 1934 as a 24.461km track that ran on streets through different areas. It hosted South African Formula One Grands Prix seven times between 1934 and 1966 and in its current state it's a more manageable 3.9km stretch of tarmac with nine turns. The legendary racing driver John Love's 1:24.300 record time still stands, but some of my fellow racers in the GR Yaris Media Challenge admit to being nervous wrecks entering East London. It's not the allure of racing competitively where legends such as Jack Brabham have flourished, but facing the most famous section of the track — the peerless Potters Pass curve and the even faster Rifle bend sweep. We'll approach it flat out, with our little GR torpedoes expected to do be doing in the region of 150km/h as we position to enter Potters. If you think Turn 1 is vicious, then Turn 3 (Cocobana) is an eye opener that requires full braking from an estimated 230km/h top speed.
Telegraph
06-07-2025
- Automotive
- Telegraph
Ranked: The greatest British F1 drivers of all time
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Formula One world championship. In that time, British drivers have recorded the most grand prix wins and claimed the most world championships. The first round of that inaugural season was the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. With that race repeated at the same circuit today, I decided to rank the greatest British F1 drivers of all time. For my qualification criteria, a British driver had to have won a minimum of four world championship grands prix – or be a world champion. Mike Hawthorn is considered (three wins, one title), but Peter Collins (three wins, no title) is not. To rank the 17 drivers who did qualify, I considered four factors: total victories, total championships, percentage of pole positions and percentage of victories. 10. Tony Brooks (1956-1961) Brooks sneaks into the top 10 ahead of David Coulthard, largely because of an impressive win percentage. There are 54 other drivers with at least six grand prix victories to their name but only 13 have a better win rate than Brooks, who raced in 38 grands prix over six years. Sir Stirling Moss called him 'the greatest unknown racing driver'. That seems fair. Three of his wins came on high-speed circuits: Spa-Francorchamps, Monza and the Nurburgring – all far more fearsome than they are today. Brooks is one of only two non-champions to make it into the top 10. The closest he came to a title was in 1959 when he finished second to Jack Brabham. How much more could he have achieved had he not retired at 29? Grand Prix starts: 38 Victories: 6 Win percentage: 15.79% Pole positions: 3 9. Jenson Button (2000-2017) Button's lengthy and successful career had several stages. He struggled to fulfil his early promise in a series of uncompetitive cars but had a breakthrough year in 2004 with Honda. That brought him 10 podiums and a finish of third, second only to the two dominant Ferraris. A first grand prix win came with Honda in 2006 and then his Hollywood 2009 title for Brawn, after Honda's departure from the sport. Just how good was he? On his day, exceptionally fast. He acquitted himself very well against Lewis Hamilton in three seasons at McLaren together, but lacked the ability to drag an unfancied car up the order. Exceptionally smooth and exceptional in the wet. Grand Prix starts: 306 Victories: 15 Championships: 2009 Win percentage: 2.6% Pole positions: 8 8. James Hunt (1973-1979) In some ways, Hunt's reputation for crashing (and his off-track lifestyle) colour the perception of the man who died aged just 45. Behind that was an exceptionally fast driver whose achievements have been perhaps underrated. Yes, his 1976 title was made far more likely by rival Niki Lauda's horrific crash and absence from the Austrian and German rounds. That should not count against Hunt, who won the title in horrific conditions in Japan, a race where Lauda pulled into the pits with the title on the line, so bad were the conditions. Proportionally, a slightly better career than Button. His 10 victories from 92 starts is a good return but his 14 pole positions in the same time period is more impressive. It puts him just below Alain Prost, Charles Leclerc and Mika Hakkinen for career pole percentage. Grand Prix starts: 92 Victories: 10 Championships: 1976 Win percentage: 10.87% Pole positions: 14 7. Graham Hill (1958-1975) Of all the multiple British champions, Hill is ranked lowest and lower than a couple of single champions, too. The longevity of his career – for 14 years he held the record as the most experienced F1 driver – is worth plenty, but it means he suffers a little in this ranking compared to other Britons with successful but shorter careers. Still, it was a tremendous career that lasted 180 races. The golden period was from 1962 to 1968 when he took his two titles and finished second three times to two other British greats – Jim Clark (twice) and John Surtees. Five wins at Monaco is no small thing, either. He struggled to achieve any significant results after a crash at the 1969 United States Grand Prix. He is still the only driver to have achieved motorsport's Triple Crown of victory in the Indianapolis 500, 24 Hours of Le Mans and the F1 world drivers' title. Grand Prix starts: 175 Victories: 14 Championships: 1962, 1968 Win percentage: 8% Pole positions: 13 6. Sir Stirling Moss (1951-1961) The highest-ranked non-champion in our list. That is no surprise, given he is surely the finest F1 driver never to have won the world drivers' title. A total of 16 wins (still a record for a non-champion) and 16 pole positions from 68 grands prix is a remarkable achievement, especially when you consider his direct rivals. In the four times he finished second (1955-1958), Juan Manuel Fangio won three times, with Mike Hawthorn pipping Moss by a single point in the other. As well as his many achievements in F1, Moss competed in and won plenty in other categories. A considerate driver as well as a fast one. Grand Prix starts: 66 Victories: 16 Win percentage: 24.24% Pole positions: 16 5. Damon Hill (1992-1999) Damon Hill's F1 career was short but burned brightly after he arrived in F1 at 31. After a debut year for an uncompetitive Brabham's final season in 1992, Hill found himself in a Williams race seat in 1993 alongside Alain Prost. The Frenchman won the championship that year with seven victories to his name, but Hill acquitted himself well with three victories of his own (all consecutive) and third place in the standings. It was in the following three years at Williams that he took the vast majority of his wins and took his only title in 1996. With modern racing rules he would and should have won the 1994 championship after Michael Schumacher crashed into him. Whilst he was not in Schumacher's bracket (who is?), the fact that he took on the German – and sometimes succeeded – works strongly in his favour. The 1993 Japanese Grand Prix win in torrential conditions is one any driver would be ecstatic with. His win percentage of 19.13 is bettered only by Hamilton, Stewart, Clark and Moss in this list – 20 career poles is not bad, either. There were occasional glimpses of brilliance in his final three years in F1. The 1997 Hungarian Grand Prix is arguably the greatest grand prix win that never was (a heartbreaking late failure that cost Arrows a first win), and in Belgium the following season he took a memorable debut win for Jordan. Grand Prix starts: 115 Victories: 22 Championships: 1996 Win percentage: 19.13% Pole positions: 20 4. Nigel Mansell (1980-1995) Dedicated. Committed. Courageous. The highest-ranked single champion in the list and with good reason – his 31 victories over 15 years and 187 race starts. Mansell was perhaps unlucky in that his seasons in a competitive car coincided with the rise of McLaren, Senna and Prost. A crash ruling him out of the final two rounds of the 1987 season, when he lost to Williams team-mate Nelson Piquet, did not help either. In his time at Ferrari, Mansell was nicknamed Il Leone (the Lion) for his ability to get the absolute most from the car, often heroically. He excelled on home soil, winning the British Grand Prix four times (only Clark, Prost and Hamilton have more) as well as the 1985 European Grand Prix at Brands Hatch. After a couple of near-misses, Mansell finally took the title he deserved in 1992 in the dominant Williams FW14B. He won eight of the first 10 rounds, took 14 pole positions and had the title sewn up by the middle of August. Not only an F1 champion, either, having won the IndyCar title in 1993. A return to F1 in 1994 and 1995 fell flat (though he did win the 1994 Australian Grand Prix for Williams), but that should not darken a fantastic career. Grand Prix starts: 187 Victories: 31 Championships: 1992 Win percentage: 16.58% Pole positions: 32 3. Sir Jackie Stewart (1965-1973) Jackie Stewart's golden period came in a remarkable six years from 1968 until his final season in 1973. That included three championships, two second-place finishes and 25 of his total of 27 grands prix wins. Those 27 victories remained a record for 14 years until Prost took that mantle in 1987. Probably the finest of his titles was his 1971 championship (his second) for Tyrrell, where he won six of 11 races and scored nearly double the points of his closest rival, Ronnie Peterson. Mind you, 1969 was not bad either (six wins) nor taking the title in 1973 in a car that did not win the constructors' championship, a season in which his team-mate François Cevert was killed in practice for the season-ending United States GP. Looking at the win percentage of British drivers, it is only Lewis Hamilton and Jim Clark who beat him. Of course, Stewart's achievements go far beyond his statistical prowess, becoming a champion for increased safety in the sport, having seen so many of his competitors and friends die in competition. Grand Prix starts: 99 Victories: 27 Championships: 1969, 1971, 1973 Win percentage: 27.27% Pole positions: 17 2. Jim Clark (1960-1968) It is impossible to know just how much more Jim Clark could have won had he not died in a Formula Two crash at Hockenheim in 1968. His astonishing win percentage of 34.72 has not been beaten by anyone – British or otherwise – since and his pole percentage of 45.83 is bettered only by Juan Manuel Fangio. His record of 33 poles stood for 22 years until Ayrton Senna beat it in 1989. Despite competing only in 72 grands prix he still holds the records for the most grand slams (pole, win, fastest lap) in F1, with eight. His two titles for Colin Chapman's Lotus were superb: six wins from nine in 1965 (including six from his first six starts) and seven from 10 in 1963. Statistically one of the greatest of all time, but also one of the greatest stylistically, too. He was as smooth as it comes. Grand Prix starts: 72 Victories: 25 Championships: 1963, 1965 Win percentage: 34.72% Pole positions: 33 1. Sir Lewis Hamilton (2007-present) Looking at talent alone, it is impossible to compare Hamilton to his closest rivals in this list like Clark and Stewart. What is not up for debate is the longevity of Hamilton's success and his statistical superiority. Some may argue that the scale of Hamilton's successes were built on the dominant cars of the early turbo-hybrid era, that in reality he had only to beat his team-mate. That does a strong disservice to how difficult it is to perform as consistently as he did for as long as he did. Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel, his title rivals from 2014-2018, were no slouches. Seven titles – a record he shares with Michael Schumacher – could be more. Were it not for an engine failure in Malaysia in 2016 and a questionable decision by FIA race director Michael Masi in 2021 it would have been nine world championships. Hamilton's career also has the hallmark of all greats – being able to haul an under-performing car to the front row or the top of the podium.
Reuters
13-06-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
Piastri sees 'cooler' statistics ahead after five wins in nine
MONTREAL, June 13 (Reuters) - Oscar Piastri could stand alone after Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix as the only Australian to win six or more races in a single Formula One season, but the 24-year-old has bigger and better statistics in his sights. Only Jack Brabham and Alan Jones, world champions both, won five in the same year although their tallies reflect the fact that there were far fewer races then to a campaign than the current record 24. Piastri, who leads McLaren teammate Lando Norris by 10 points in the championship, has won five of the nine so far and been on the podium in the last eight. It will surprise nobody if the remarkably calm driver is back on the top step at Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Sunday. "It's a nice stat to have," he said of matching the maximum season haul of 1980 champion Jones and late triple title-winner Brabham. "I'd be happier with the stat of joining them as world champion. "To have five wins in nine races is beyond what I expected really, even with a very competitive car," he added, saying there had also been a few other moments he wished he could rerun. "Whilst those stats are cool, that's ultimately not why I'm here," he said. "I'm here to try and win even more races and fight for a championship. So I think there's some cooler statistics to come hopefully." Piastri said he expected Montreal to be a continuation of how the season has gone so far, with champions McLaren winning seven of the nine and Red Bull's reigning champion Max Verstappen the other two, and also good for him. "Max will probably be competitive again. This was a very competitive race for Mercedes last year and I expect them to be quick again here," he added. "But you never quite know whether that's going to be matching us or challenging in qualifying especially, or a tenth or two back. Hopefully it's not a tenth or two ahead but you just never quite know exactly where the challenge is going to come from. "Monaco was a strong race for Ferrari and there's some similarities to here but we said that 12 months ago and it wasn't a great race for them." Piastri qualified fourth with Norris third on the grid in Canada last year but the Australian finished fifth with his teammate runner-up to Verstappen. "Somewhat ironically the races that were pretty bad for me last year have been the best so far this year, and some of the ones that were good last year haven't been great," he said. "So we'll see how we go but I'm expecting it to be a good weekend...I've been very comfortable with the car the whole year and I feel like I'm in a good place at the moment so I'm expecting it to be strong."
CNA
13-06-2025
- Sport
- CNA
Piastri sees 'cooler' statistics ahead after five wins in nine
MONTREAL :Oscar Piastri could stand alone after Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix as the only Australian to win six or more races in a single Formula One season, but the 24-year-old has bigger and better statistics in his sights. Only Jack Brabham and Alan Jones, world champions both, won five in the same year although their tallies reflect the fact that there were far fewer races then to a campaign than the current record 24. Piastri, who leads McLaren teammate Lando Norris by 10 points in the championship, has won five of the nine so far and been on the podium in the last eight. It will surprise nobody if the remarkably calm driver is back on the top step at Montreal's Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Sunday. "It's a nice stat to have," he said of matching the maximum season haul of 1980 champion Jones and late triple title-winner Brabham. "I'd be happier with the stat of joining them as world champion. "To have five wins in nine races is beyond what I expected really, even with a very competitive car," he added, saying there had also been a few other moments he wished he could rerun. "Whilst those stats are cool, that's ultimately not why I'm here," he said. "I'm here to try and win even more races and fight for a championship. So I think there's some cooler statistics to come hopefully." COMPETITIVE VERSTAPPEN Piastri said he expected Montreal to be a continuation of how the season has gone so far, with champions McLaren winning seven of the nine and Red Bull's reigning champion Max Verstappen the other two, and also good for him. "Max will probably be competitive again. This was a very competitive race for Mercedes last year and I expect them to be quick again here," he added. "But you never quite know whether that's going to be matching us or challenging in qualifying especially, or a tenth or two back. Hopefully it's not a tenth or two ahead but you just never quite know exactly where the challenge is going to come from. "Monaco was a strong race for Ferrari and there's some similarities to here but we said that 12 months ago and it wasn't a great race for them." Piastri qualified fourth with Norris third on the grid in Canada last year but the Australian finished fifth with his teammate runner-up to Verstappen. "Somewhat ironically the races that were pretty bad for me last year have been the best so far this year, and some of the ones that were good last year haven't been great," he said. "So we'll see how we go but I'm expecting it to be a good weekend...I've been very comfortable with the car the whole year and I feel like I'm in a good place at the moment so I'm expecting it to be strong."
