Sixteen Australians have started world championship grands prix since 1950. Six have taken podiums, five have won races and two became world champions, with Oscar Piastri’s strong position at McLaren raising the possibility of a third.
There have been several Australian talents who made it to F1 but didn’t get decent machinery. David Brabham and Larry Perkins suffered torrid times and failed to score a point but went on to success elsewhere.
Dave Walker’s promising career was destroyed by a troubled season at Lotus in 1972, when team-mate Emerson Fittipaldi took the drivers’ title and Walker failed to score a point.
So, here is our list of the top Australian drivers that did have a big impact on F1. Our ranking is based on what they achieved in F1, factoring in the cars at their disposal.
5. Oscar Piastri
Oscar Piastri, McLaren
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images
Years: 2023-present
Starts: 51
Wins: 5
Podiums: 14
Poles: 2
Titles: 0
When we did the first version of this list in 2022, we said Piastri might be on his way to being a contender and he has already done enough to make it, knocking out Tim Schenken.
A rookie champion in Formula Renault Eurocup, F3 and F2, Piastri was then the subject of a battle between Alpine and McLaren for his services. McLaren won and Piastri made his F1 race debut in 2023.
He quickly impressed alongside Lando Norris, finishing ninth in the standings to Norris’s sixth, even though tyre management was sometimes an issue. Piastri also took an F1 victory of sorts when he won the Qatar sprint race in October.
Although Norris continued to lead the revitalised McLaren team in 2024, Piastri’s development and rise was strong. A slightly messy first GP win came amid team orders in Hungary but his second, in Azerbaijan, was brilliantly taken after a duel with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Piastri ended up fourth in the championship and his contribution helped McLaren take its first constructors’ crown since 1998.
Piastri started 2025 with three wins from five GPs. The battle with Norris has increased in intensity, with the rapid Briton making more mistakes than his 24-year-old team-mate.
Given Piastri’s age, coolness under pressure and ability, it seems very likely he will soon climb above his manager to get higher on this list…
4. Mark Webber
Mark Webber, Paul Stoddart and the boxing kangaroo celebrating
Photo by: Minardi Formula 1
Years: 2002-13
Starts: 215
Wins: 9
Podiums: 42
Poles: 13
Titles: 0
A race winner in F3000, Webber scored a sensational fifth on his F1 debut with Minardi, the team’s first points for more than two years.
That set the tone for Webber’s first three years in F1, performing strongly in mediocre equipment, first at Minardi and then at Jaguar. There were some star qualifying efforts, most notably second in the 2004 Malaysian GP, but when Webber joined Williams for 2005 his best finish was still that famous fifth.
Webber arrived at Williams at just the wrong time, the team starting a long-term dip as its relationship with engine supplier BMW deteriorated. He narrowly beat team-mate Nick Heidfeld in the standings and scored his first podium in the Monaco GP, but the following year’s Cosworth-powered contender was less competitive and points were scarce.
Webber made the key move of his F1 career for 2007, joining Red Bull alongside David Coulthard. The team was on the up and, by 2009, was a frontrunner, Webber taking his first pole and victory in the German GP.
But that was also the year Red Bull protege Sebastian Vettel arrived. The inexperienced German made the odd error but was fast – and it was Vettel who took the fight to Brawn’s Jenson Button in the championship, Webber finishing fourth after a second win in Brazil.
PODCAST: Top 10 Red Bull F1 drivers ranked
The 2010 season was Webber’s big chance. The RB6 was the fastest car of the season and wins in Spain, Monaco, Britain and Hungary helped Webber into a 14-point lead with just three GPs to go. But then two crucial things happened.
The first was Webber’s mistake in the wet Korean GP, crashing out while chasing leader Vettel. And the second was the team allowing Vettel to lead a Red Bull 1-2 in Brazil.
That meant Webber went to the Abu Dhabi finale eight points behind Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and seven ahead of Vettel. Famously, Webber pitted too soon in the race, Ferrari made the same mistake trying to cover him and Vettel was left to take victory and the title.
Thereafter, Vettel was increasingly dominant within the team. Not only usually faster, he also had the support of the management, as shown by the fallout (or lack thereof) from Vettel’s misjudgement at the 2010 Turkish GP and ignoring of team orders in the 2013 Malaysian GP.
Webber’s ninth and last F1 win came in the 2012 British GP, though he had earlier underlined his abilities around the challenging streets of Monte Carlo with a second Monaco GP success.
Overall, Webber was left trailing as Vettel scorched to four consecutive drivers’ crowns. After a winless 2013, when Vettel won 13 times, Webber retired from F1 to embark on a successful World Endurance career with Porsche that peaked with the title in 2015.
3. Daniel Ricciardo
Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing RB14
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
Years: 2011-24
Starts: 257
Wins: 8
Podiums: 32
Poles: 3
Titles: 0
Ricciardo has fewer wins, fewer podiums and didn’t come as close to winning a world title as Webber, so why is he ahead on this list?
Ricciardo never had as consistently a competitive package as Webber had with those Red Bulls of 2009-13 and he managed something his predecessor never did: outscore team-mate Vettel over a season.
PLUS: Rating the best drivers of the century so far
After making his debut with minnow squad HRT and impressing at Toro Rosso, Ricciardo graduated to Red Bull just as the turbo-hybrid era began. The team lost its competitive advantage to Mercedes, but Ricciardo brilliantly took three wins on his way to third in the championship and finished 71 points clear of Vettel, who then left for Ferrari.
Although narrowly outscored by new team-mate Daniil Kvyat in 2015, Ricciardo still led the Red Bull charge more often than not. He did so again in 2016, despite the victorious arrival of rising star Max Verstappen, and Ricciardo finished best-of-the-rest behind Mercedes duo Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, and for the second time topped Autosport’s Top 50 list at the end of the year.
Ricciardo beat Verstappen to fifth in the 2017 standings and started 2018 with superb victories in China and Monaco, but the momentum at Red Bull was shifting. Sensing that Verstappen was the team’s future, Ricciardo jumped ship to Renault.
There were some challenging moments and no wins at the French manufacturer but Ricciardo outscored team-mates Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Ocon. He topped his time there with podiums at the Nurburgring and Imola before heading to McLaren.
Ricciardo struggled to get on terms with McLaren machinery in 2021-22 and was largely outperformed by new colleague Norris. He did, however, show his class when the opportunity arose at Monza, leading a McLaren 1-2 in the 2021 Italian GP.
Ricciardo got one more chance when he replaced the disappointing Nyck de Vries at what was then AlphaTauri (now Racing Bulls) in 2023 and there was even the chance of a return to Red Bull to replace Sergio Perez. But he struggled to rediscover his old magic and, after being outperformed by Yuki Tsunoda, was replaced by Liam Lawson after the 2024 Singapore GP.
At his peak, Ricciardo was probably good enough to be world champion, or at least challenge for a title, but he never got the chance. There is little doubt that he was a winner of great GPs, almost all eight of his victories coming in dramatic style.
2. Alan Jones
Alan Jones Williams FW07B
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
Years: 1975-81, 1983, 1985-86
Starts: 116
Wins: 12
Podiums: 24
Poles: 6
Titles: 1 (1980)
Perhaps underrated by history, Jones was a tough racer who probably would have won more had he not decided to retire at the end of 1981. As it is, he is one of only two Australians to win the world championship and is tied with American legend Mario Andretti on 12 GP victories.
Top 10: American F1 drivers ranked: Andretti, Hill, Gurney and more
Son of respected 1950s racer Stan, Jones struggled financially to get his career going in the 1970s but kept plugging away. He made his first world championship F1 starts in 1975, driving a Hesketh for Harry Stiller, who Jones had raced for previously.
Jones was then picked up by Graham Hill’s Embassy team to replace the injured Rolf Stommelen, scoring his first points with fifth in the German GP. He joined Surtees for 1976 but found team boss and former world champion John Surtees difficult to work with despite the potential of the TS19.
Such was the depth of the problem at Surtees that Jones was prepared to walk away, only to get back into F1 with Shadow following Tom Pryce’s terrible death during the 1977 South African GP, round three of the campaign. Thereafter, Jones was a points threat in the solid but unspectacular DN8.
The undoubted highlight of the year was a remarkable victory in the rain-affected Austrian GP. Starting 14th, Jones climbed the order in the early slippery conditions and inherited victory when James Hunt’s leading McLaren blew its engine.
PLUS: The wild Austrian GP that launched a future world champion
After courting Ferrari, Jones joined the fledgling Williams team. The no-nonsense Jones quickly gelled with Frank Williams and Patrick Head, with some promising performances in the simple FW06.
PLUS: The best F1 cars never to win a GP
Once the team got on top of the FW07, Head’s version of the ground-effects Lotus 79, Jones became the pacesetter in the second half of 1979. He won four of the last six GPs and finished third in the championship.
All the promise was realised in 1980. Jones won five time and took five other podium finishes to beat Brabham’s Nelson Piquet and Williams team-mate Carlos Reutemann to the crown. He also won the Spanish GP, later stripped of its points status thanks to the FISA-FOCA war, and the non-championship Australian GP.
Jones was arguably even better in 1981 but some bad luck and the odd error limited him to two victories and third in the table. Jones surprised Williams by retiring from F1 at the end of the season, thereby giving up the chance to drive the FW08 that Keke Rosberg would take to the 1982 title.
He flirted with Ferrari for a late 1982 return, made a brief return with Arrows in 1983 and then joined the Team Haas Lola operation for 1985-86.
The project was not a success, Jones taking its best result with fourth in the 1986 Austrian GP, and closed at the end of the season. Jones then became a commentator, though continued to compete in sportscars and mainly touring cars through to the end of the 1990s.
1. Jack Brabham
Race winner Jack Brabham on the podium
Photo by: Motorsport Images
Years: 1955-70
Starts: 126
Wins: 14
Podiums: 31
Poles: 13
Titles: 3 (1959-60, 1966)
Brabham is one of F1’s legends, not just because he won three world titles during his long career but also because he founded his eponymous team, with which he took his final F1 crown.
He had already built up considerable technical and mechanical experience before he went racing in Australia, first in Midget cars on dirt ovals – where he honed a dramatic style that he would carry to F1 – and then circuit racing.
Brabham was successful and made the trip to the UK in 1955. He soon became part of the Cooper concern’s efforts and, having made one world championship start per season in 1955 and 1956, joined Cooper’s F1 effort in 1957.
The agile mid-engined Coopers were at an engine capacity disadvantage until 1959, when the 2.5-litre Coventry Climax unit arrived. Brabham scored his F1 win in the BRDC International Trophy in the T51 and took his maiden world championship GP success just a week later in Monaco.
Brabham fought Ferrari’s Tony Brooks and the privateer Rob Walker Cooper of Stirling Moss for the championship. He had greater reliability than either, scoring two wins and three other podiums, and clinched the title at the Sebring finale, famously pushing his car over the line after it ran out of fuel.
The improved T53, combined with the fragility of the rapid Lotus 18, helped Brabham dominate in 1960. He recorded three poles and five wins, including a victory against the more powerful Ferraris in the French GP, which Brabham later picked as his greatest race.
Race of My Life: Jack Brabham on the 1960 French GP
Cooper lost its edge as the 1500cc era begin in 1961 and Ferrari gained an advantage before Lotus and BRM took over. Brabham’s ambitions were greater and in 1962 he left to race for his own team, Brabham Racing Organisation, supplied with cars built by the Motor Racing Developments concern he had founded with Ron Tauranac.
Reliability problems hampered the early Brabhams, plus Jack was happy to play second fiddle to Dan Gurney when it came to driving. Indeed, it was Gurney who took Brabham’s first win as a constructor in the 1964 French GP and Jack considered retiring from driving.
But Gurney’s decision to leave the team to start his own operation and the promise of the Brabham-Repco for the new three-litre regulations for 1966 meant Jack continued. Always at his best when he knew the machinery was competitive, Brabham rose to the occasion and stormed to the 1966 crown with four victories, his first world championship GP successes for six years. He remains the only driver to win the F1 title in a car bearing his own name.
PLUS: Jack Brabham’s 10 greatest drives
Brabham liked to try new parts first and this contributed to him being beaten to the 1967 crown by team-mate Denny Hulme. The team once again scooped the constructors’ championship, helped by the poor finishing record of the pacesetting Lotus 49.
PLUS: Revealing F1’s fastest losers
Repco’s response to the Cosworth DFV for 1968 was woefully unreliable and Jochen Rindt was the team’s pacesetter. Jacky Ickx played that role as a switch to DFVs boosted the team in 1969 and the Belgian scored two GP victories, while Jack did manage a fine win in the non-championship International Trophy.
Brabham was again prepared to retire ahead of 1970 if Rindt could be persuaded to return from Lotus, but that didn’t happen. So Jack continued for one more year and showed he was still competitive at the age of 44.
Jack Brabham, Brabham BT33-Ford
Photo by: Motorsport Images
The BT33 was a on the pace. Brabham won the season-opening South African GP and should have won at Monaco (denied by his famous last-corner error that allowed Rindt past) and Brands Hatch (where he had Rindt beaten before running out of fuel on the final tour).
PLUS: The forgotten F1 car that could have been champion
Brabham finally bowed out of F1 at the end of 1970, after finishing sixth in the standings, and sold his share of the team to Tauranac.
Brabham went on to develop other business interests but stayed involved in motorsport. His sons all became racers and Jack continued to appear at historic events, such as the Goodwood Revival, well into the 2000s. He died in 2014, aged 88.
