![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/poster-fallback.png\"\/)
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\u201cEvery driver wants to win their home race, and that\u2019s no different for me.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving it as a season opener, there\u2019s a larger element of the unknown there, but I\u2019d love to win here.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we\u2019ve got the car to do it \u2014 even if we don\u2019t have the car to do it \u2014 I\u2019ll be trying my absolute best.\u201d<\/p>\n
No local driver has so much finished on the podium in the world championship era of the Australian Grand Prix. Piastri came close last year, but ultimately he too befell what must now be considered a full-blown curse after spinning off the road in the rain.<\/p>\n
Piastri \u2014 and perhaps any other Australian \u2014 has never been in a better position to break the drought. One of last year\u2019s peak performers and racing for defending constructors champion McLaren, the signs are surely positive that he can finally get it done.<\/p>\n
But the game is changing this year. Melbourne is the first round of Formula 1\u2019s all-new era. Conventional wisdom no longer applies.<\/p>\n
PIT TALK PODCAST: With just days before the opening grand prix of the season, Michael and Matt run the rule over the field to come up with a form guide for Melbourne \u2014 including the clear standout and Formula 1\u2019s crisis team of 2026.<\/p>\n
CAN McLAREN BEAT THE MERCEDES WORKS TEAM AGAIN?<\/p>\n
McLaren doesn\u2019t know whether it\u2019s been able to continue its momentum from last season, when it dominated the constructors championship.<\/p>\n
The team was solid in testing, but consensus suggests it wasn\u2019t quite as spectacular as Mercedes \u2014 and McLaren isn\u2019t willing to make itself an exception in a pre-season dominated by the top teams insisting they\u2019re not the favourite.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019re far behind \u2014 if we are,\u201d Piastri said. \u201cI don\u2019t know if we are behind at all. The feeling is we\u2019re in the mix but not right at the pointy end, so if we can find a little bit more, then hopefully we can be right at the pointy end.\u201d<\/p>\n
The favourite tag belongs instead to Mercedes \u2014 though George Russell, the bookies choice for drivers champion, isn\u2019t buying the hype.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t change anything,\u201d he said. \u201cI think there\u2019s a lot of chat around us, Mercedes, and we take it as a compliment.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, once the helmet\u2019s on and the visor\u2019s down, you\u2019re just flat out and you don\u2019t really think about any of this additional noise. Just take it race by race and see how we go.\u201d<\/p>\n
He did admit, however, that the atmosphere at the team was positive after years of delivering cars under the previous rules that failed to perform.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe morale is definitely different, but I think this is more to do with the fact that the car is performing as we expected,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat was very important is seeing the correlation is good, there\u2019s no major scares on the car.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe engine looks strong \u2026 the package looks good, so that is probably the biggest reason why the morale is high, and you need that at the start of any new regulations to build upon.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe feel we\u2019ve got a very good chance.\u201d<\/p>\n
McLaren dispensed with the conventional wisdom that only works teams win titles when it claimed back-to-back constructors championships in 2024\u201325. Some of that is due to the regulations, which mandate that customer teams have access to identical hardware and software.<\/p>\n
However, with these complex engines, the belief is that works status will once again become critical given the manufacturers had been working with their engines long before customers like McLaren got their hands on them.<\/p>\n
If McLaren is going to win the title this year \u2014 if it\u2019s going to win this weekend\u2019s race or any other this year \u2014 it\u2019ll need to prove convention wisdom wrong again by beating the works Mercedes team.<\/p>\n
Piastri pays a visit to cancer patients | 00:37<\/p>\n
IS FERRARI THE REAL DEAL?<\/p>\n
McLaren, though, isn\u2019t tipped as Mercedes\u2019s closest challenger. That status belongs to another works team: Ferrari.<\/p>\n
The Scuderia abandoned development of last year\u2019s underwhelming car early to focus on its 2026 challenger, and the Italian team ended testing in what looked like strong shape after a low-key start.<\/p>\n
The change in vibe is palpable. The dark clouds that hung permanently over the team last year appear to have cleared, and optimism has returned.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s definitely positivity around the team,\u201d Charles Leclerc said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we did a good job, and on that we should be satisfied.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think it means much going forward, because it\u2019s very, very early days, and I don\u2019t think anybody really showed their real potential, so we will only see after qualifying.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut surely I prefer to be in the position where we are here to calm the expectations down rather than having to manage a lot of negativity around the team. That\u2019s always a bit of a better situation to be in.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve taken clear conclusions and that will help us massively to start the season on the right foot and maximising our potential. Then where our potential is, it\u2019s difficult to know for now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lewis Hamilton was cautious about placing Ferrari in the pecking order, but he didn\u2019t shy away from setting victory as a target.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe goal is to win,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019re working towards. Every team is, but that\u2019s our goal \u2014 to maximise every opportunity, to be hopefully fighting in the top group, hopefully in the first races.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t really know. Mercedes looked particularly quick, and I\u2019m not really sure whether we\u2019ve seen the full, unleashed Red Bull yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut whatever the case, I feel like I\u2019ve got a great group of people behind me who are head down focused on bringing performance and really maximising every weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n
No matter the result this weekend, every team is warning that performance in Australia won\u2019t necessarily be indicative of performance for the season. That\u2019s partly because the development race is expected to be conducted at a ferocious pace, but it\u2019s also because Melbourne is an outlier for power unit management, and given the importance of the power unit to a good result, Albert Park may not represent the true picture.<\/p>\n
But Ferrari fans should consider another reason not to get ahead of themselves in the event of victory.<\/p>\n
The Scuderia has won four of the last seven Australian grands prix, more than any other constructor in that time period.<\/p>\n
But in neither 2017, 2018, 2022 or 2024 did victory in Melbourne precipitate either the constructors or the drivers title. The best it did in any of those seasons was to win five more grands prix.<\/p>\n
Victory this weekend would be a welcome and important boost for the Scuderia after a dire winless campaign last season, but in the grand scheme of the championship, it may not signify much.<\/p>\n
Kayo & Fox Sports secure new F1 Deal | 03:40<\/p>\n
WHAT ABOUT THE NEW POWER UNITS?<\/p>\n
Formula 1 changed the engine rules this year to attract new manufacturers to the sport, in particular Audi. Given it successfully attracted the German marque, you could declare the new regulations a success already.<\/p>\n
Audi is one of two or three \u2014 depending on how generous you\u2019re feeling \u2014 new engine manufacturers on the grid this year.<\/p>\n
F1 has been hunting a Volkswagen brand for the grid for decades, and Audi has given it exactly what it\u2019s always wanted: not just a motor but a full works team too.<\/p>\n
But we shouldn\u2019t forget that Audi was Sauber last year, the long-time independent team. That\u2019s a low base from which to start, and combined with its first-attempt power unit, expectations should be kept in check despite Audi\u2019s considerable pedigree.<\/p>\n
Then again, Red Bull Powertrains appeared to be proving you don\u2019t need to have built an engine before to have a good crack at Formula 1.<\/p>\n
Red Bull\u2019s first F1 motor, built in a brand-new facility on the same campus as Red Bull Racing, turned heads in testing for what looked like superior efficiency. Even if it didn\u2019t seem to keep the same edge throughout pre-season that had rival manufacturers initially claiming it could be the best in class, it\u2019s certainly kept itself in the ballpark at least.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very happy with what we did in the pre-season,\u201d said Max Verstappen. \u201cIt\u2019s been a really great and proud moment for everyone, how the whole project came together between the engine and the car.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was really positively surprised with how basically everything felt also. The rule changes have been really complex for everyone, but in terms of the feeling in the car, driving experience between the engine and the car, it was good.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we want to be a little bit faster, and naturally I think everyone always wants to be faster, but from the things that I think we learned in Bahrain, we were not the quickest \u2014 but I have no idea; we\u2019ll just see where we are here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Red Bull\u2019s strong start has only compounded the woe at Honda, the third \u2018new\u2019 manufacturer.<\/p>\n
The Japanese brand had been supplying the Red Bull teams until the end of last season, but its decision to withdraw at the end of 2021 \u2014 even if it walked back from a full exit \u2014 meant it lost many experienced engineers to other Honda departments or to F1 rivals.<\/p>\n
It makes this at least a newish project \u2014 and this newish project so far has been disastrous.<\/p>\n
The engine is literally shaking itself to death, with the hybrid battery failing due to extreme vibrations for which Honda is yet to identify a cause.<\/p>\n
Worse, the shaking through the chassis is so bad that the drivers fear permanent nerve damage in their hands if they complete more than a dozen laps or so.<\/p>\n
It means Aston Martin and Honda definitely won\u2019t complete the race on Sunday, but by then we\u2019ll have an even clearer picture of just how dire a situation the partnership is in.<\/p>\n
Middle East conflict to impact AUS GP | 05:00<\/p>\n
CAN F1\u2019S NEW TEAM AVOID THE BOTTOM?<\/p>\n
Cadillac will become Formula 1\u2019s first new team in a decade this season when Sergio P\u00e9rez and Valtteri Bottas hit the track in the first ever General Motors-backed grand prix team.<\/p>\n
It hasn\u2019t been a long time coming.<\/p>\n
The team had its entry confirmed little more than a year ago \u2014 barely any time at all for a project being built from the ground up, even if the foundations had been laid by Michael Andretti with his ill-fated bid to join Formula 1.<\/p>\n
Andretti was denied entry in part because Formula 1 claimed he had underestimated the challenge of competing in top-tier motorsport and that his team would therefore be shambolically uncompetitive at the back of the field and a drag on the sport\u2019s image.<\/p>\n
Cadillac, however \u2014 fundamentally the same team by a different name and without Michael Andretti involved \u2014 has looked anything but shambolic so far.<\/p>\n
Thoroughly competent throughout testing to set a reasonable number of laps, the team looks in good shape to start the first chapter of its history.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not to say its year won\u2019t be spent mostly at the back of the pack \u2014 no-one expects greatness from the team\u2019s first car.<\/p>\n
\u201cProgress,\u201d said Bottas when asked what the team was aiming for this year. \u201cThat\u2019s the number one thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to get better from the start of the year to the end of the year, which I hope we will.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had hard work already, but the hard work continues going ahead. With the new power units, with the new cars, it\u2019s the same for everyone, but we have been building everything from scratch, so we need to keep going, keep getting better in all the areas.\u201d<\/p>\n
But in a small early win for Cadillac, it\u2019ll be virtually assured of finishing inside the top 20 if either car sees the chequered flag given Aston Martin is unlikely to make the distance.<\/p>\n
Aston Martin thinks it would be in much better competitive shape without its Honda engine dramas, and that may be true, but if fixes don\u2019t come along soon, Cadillac may dare to dream it could even avoid a last-place championship finish in what would be a truly remarkable outcome.<\/p>\n
Bezzechhi wins MotoGP opener | 01:03<\/p>\n
CAN ARVID LINDBLAD START ON THE FRONT FOOT?<\/p>\n
After a glut of rookies made their full-time debuts last season, in 2026 only one driver is new to the grid.<\/p>\n
Arvid Lindblad will suit up in Racing Bulls colours this weekend, his first as a Formula 1 driver.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is what I\u2019ve been working towards my whole life,\u201d he said. \u201cThis was my goal, my dream, when I started when I was five, so the fact that it\u2019s coming true is obviously something I\u2019m very excited for.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn F1 everything\u2019s a step up, so it\u2019s a different vibe. There\u2019s a bit more going on, but I\u2019m just trying to stay focused on the important bit, which is the driving.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lindblad is in a potentially interesting position in the Red Bull program.<\/p>\n
Rumours last year suggested the Briton was given his contract unilaterally by former Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko in one of his final acts for the brand before splitting suddenly at the end of 2025.<\/p>\n
Speculation suggested Yuki Tsunoda had been in with a real shot at returning to Racing Bulls once it was clear he wouldn\u2019t continue at Red Bull Racing before Marko gave away the seat alongside Liam Lawson.<\/p>\n
Lindblad has long been highly rated inside the Red Bull program, but his Formula 2 campaign last season was far from stellar, featuring just one feature race victory culminating in a distant sixth in the championship. Another year in the series may have done him well.<\/p>\n
Instead he\u2019s been thrown into the deep end alongside the wily Lawson, who will revel in his first full pre-season and full-time campaign with one team. He won\u2019t be easy to beat, and if he can\u2019t get one over the Kiwi, who has already been rejected by Red Bull Racing, then it\u2019s hard to see how he can argue for a promotion to the senior squad.<\/p>\n
Of course he doesn\u2019t have to fire immediately. Isack Hadjar crashed out of the Australian Grand Prix on the formation lap and still ended the year with his promotion papers.<\/p>\n
Marko and Christian Horner\u2019s departures last year might also make the entire program less cutthroat, buying him time.<\/p>\n
But you only get so much time to state your case no matter where you are on the grid. Lindblad\u2019s time starts now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What would it mean for Oscar Piastri to become the first Australian to win their home grand prix?…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":521111,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[60147,259941,1724,64,63,689,258329,102407,936,259931,13275,1199,259936,21787,248279,259948,241734,259943,259933,16177,259942,259929,38763,2057,259944,259935,817,259946,259947,259940,28118,813,816,653,259937,59975,3875,2105,841,49584,14211,4405,177555,84708,16200,2101,2328,16183,258371,246261,3352,259928,16201,2082,5120,825,647,82966,229840,259938,677,225380,259939,2119,112751,18923,259932,228944,259934,70479,16205,194449,33195,2072,3595,85,7663,219711,259930,12101,259945,209117,660,259949,30225,12000,231445,16198,223959,5077],"class_list":{"0":"post-521110","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-albert-park","9":"tag-arvid-lindblac","10":"tag-asia","11":"tag-au","12":"tag-australia","13":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","14":"tag-australian-ace","15":"tag-back-to-back-constructors-championships","16":"tag-bahrain","17":"tag-bookies-choice","18":"tag-charles-leclerc","19":"tag-christian-horner","20":"tag-convention-wisdom","21":"tag-conventional-wisdom","22":"tag-crisis-team","23":"tag-customer-teams","24":"tag-development-race","25":"tag-drivers-champion","26":"tag-drivers-fear","27":"tag-drivers-title","28":"tag-engine-dramas","29":"tag-engine-looks","30":"tag-engine-manufacturers","31":"tag-europe","32":"tag-expects-greatness","33":"tag-extreme-vibrations","34":"tag-f1","35":"tag-fear-permanent-nerve","36":"tag-feature-race-victory","37":"tag-first-attempt-power-unit","38":"tag-formation-lap","39":"tag-formula-1","40":"tag-formula1","41":"tag-fox-sports-news","42":"tag-front-foot","43":"tag-general-motors-company","44":"tag-george-russell","45":"tag-getty-images-inc","46":"tag-grand-prix","47":"tag-grand-prix-team","48":"tag-grands-prix","49":"tag-helmut-marko","50":"tag-home-grand-prix","51":"tag-home-race","52":"tag-honda-motor-company","53":"tag-italian-team","54":"tag-italy","55":"tag-japanese-brand","56":"tag-kayo-ampamp-fox-sports","57":"tag-last-place-championship-finish","58":"tag-liam-lawson","59":"tag-long-time-independent-team","60":"tag-ltd","61":"tag-mark-thompson","62":"tag-matt","63":"tag-max-verstappen","64":"tag-melbourne","65":"tag-michael-andretti","66":"tag-new-power","67":"tag-newish-project","68":"tag-oceania","69":"tag-opening-grand-prix","70":"tag-package-looks","71":"tag-pit-talk","72":"tag-pointy-end","73":"tag-power-unit","74":"tag-power-unit-management","75":"tag-power-units","76":"tag-promotion-papers","77":"tag-real-deal","78":"tag-rule-changes","79":"tag-season-launch","80":"tag-season-opener","81":"tag-sergio-perez","82":"tag-southern-europe","83":"tag-sports","84":"tag-talking-points","85":"tag-team-looks","86":"tag-teams-win-titles","87":"tag-time-period","88":"tag-top-teams-insisting","89":"tag-travis-auld","90":"tag-victoria","91":"tag-victory-bid","92":"tag-volkswagen-ag","93":"tag-western-asia","94":"tag-works-status","95":"tag-works-team","96":"tag-world-championship-era","97":"tag-yuki-tsunoda"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521110\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}