The countdown has begun: at 2.30 on Friday night (Italian time) the 2026 Formula 1 season will officially kick off with the first free practice session in Australia. A championship still full of unknowns due to the new and complicated technical regulations, which are generating question marks not only on who will be the next world champion, but also on who will be the driver who will win the first round of the world championship in Melbourne.
The person who didn’t express the slightest doubt on the matter was a former McLaren like David Coulthardwho is convinced that a driver from the Woking team can win this weekend’s race. In this case, however, the one who will make it will not be the reigning world champion Lando Norris, but his teammate Oscar Piastri. A success which, again according to the Scotsman, would be of great importance.
In addition to being born in the city where the race weekend will take place, Piastri would become the first Australian in history to win his home GP. An objective never achieved by a world champion like Alan Jones (the Australian GP was included in the world championship after the withdrawal of another world title winner such as Jack Brabham, ed.), nor by two other drivers such as Mark Webber or Daniel Ricciardo: “Point straight to the home heropoint on Oscar Piastri for the victory – Coulthard commented on the podcast Up to Speed – Australia hasn’t had this in a long time, if ever. Webber couldn’t do it, Ricciardo couldn’t do it either. It’s been needed for a long time.”
