Daniel Ricciardo, VCARB, Visa, RB, Singapore, 2024 — Photo: © IMAGO

Formula 1

Daniel Ricciardo could have F1 mark beaten in 2025

Australia has been represented well on the F1 grid

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Accredited motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Sunday 11 May 2025 03:00

Australia has been one of the better nations in Formula 1 history, all the way back to Jack Brabham through Mark Webber and Daniel Ricciardo, but it's newbie Oscar Piastri who could demote Daniel Ricciardo in history.

Piastri's next win will be Australia's 50th in the sport, with 37 pole positions and 145 podiums, and three-time champion Brabham remains the most successful Aussie with 14 wins.

Alan Jones is the second-most successful with 12 victories, and Mark Webber the third with nine race wins.

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At the beginning of Ricciardo’s F1 career, the Aussie was touted to break these records and was even named a potential future world champion, his early victories with Red Bull an indicator of his racing talent.

However, Ricciardo's future never capitalised on this talent, and whilst eight grand prix victories is nothing to sniff at, it is a record that could be eclipsed in 2025 by Australia's current star Oscar Piastri.

How can Piastri surpass Ricciardo’s race wins?

Following Piastri’s first win at the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix and his subsequent victory in Azerbaijan, the Australian driver now has six race victories and with 18 races left this season, meaning he has plenty of time to surpass Ricciardo’s record of eight wins.

If Piastri crosses the finish line first in the next two events at Imola and Monaco, he will equal Ricciardo’s total of grand prix victories and could beat it as early as the Spanish Grand Prix.

However, Piastri's current dominance is likely to be challenged by team-mate Lando Norris and Max Verstappen, despite the form the McLaren star finds himself in.

As Verstappen and Norris fought for second behind him during the Miami GP, Piastri managed to extend his lead by over eight seconds which gave him enough of a buffer to resist his team-mate when he eventually got past the Red Bull.

Since Miami, much has been said about how the Aussie races Verstappen compared to Norris, with Piastri himself admitting he has studied how to battle the champion.

"I'm starting to understand what you can and can't do around Max. In Saudi I did what I needed to, to win myself the race," Piastri told Sky Sports F1 at the Miami Grand Prix.

"Even though it took me a fair few laps to get past him, that was probably as efficient as I could have overtaken him.

"I learned through my years of watching Max and racing against him that being on his outside is not a very fun place and I had to try something different. It felt like a matter of when, rather than if, but I had to pick my moment wisely."

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Red Bull Max Verstappen Mercedes Lando Norris Daniel Ricciardo Oscar Piastri