Review: Not a Saturday to remember for our Australians

It was a tough day at his home office for McLaren rookie Oscar Piastri, who was eliminated in the first Qualifying session on Saturday for the FORMULA 1 ROLEX AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX 2023.

On literally his home soil, the Melbourne driver will start the race – which will be his last as a 21-year-old – from 16^th on the grid, missing out on progressing into Q2 by a narrow 0.046sec.

Piastri could not replicate his Qualifying heroics from the second race of the Formula 1® season last month in Saudi Arabia, where he went through to Q3.

The Aussie had to slow severely before starting his final lap and, as a result, was 0.274sec behind his teammate Lando Norris, but that was enough to tip the in-season Qualifying battle between the two men in orange Norris’s way, 2-1.

The news was not significantly better for the Australian drivers competing in the other open-wheeler events at Albert Park.

Jack Doohan could carry Aussie hopes only as far as lap 13 in the Formula 2® race. The Queenslander made a good start from 15^th but found himself in a train of cars that stretched from fifth to 15^th, and when a tap from behind spun him at Turn 4, he dropped to last.

Christian Mansell was the best-placed of the three local drivers in the first-ever Formula 3® race at Albert Park, taking a steady 13^th place. His Campos Racing teammate Hugh Barter got caught up in a pack early in the race and finished 22^nd, while Tommy Smith found himself out of contention early on when his Van Amersfoort entry ran wide at the final corner and made contact with the wall, forcing him to retire.