Source : ABC NEWS
Glitz, glamour and prestige have long been associated with Formula 1, and no race embodies that more than the Monaco Grand Prix.
Held around the streets of Monte Carlo, racing past the mega yachts docked in the harbour as the Monaco royal family watches on, this race is the crown jewel on the F1 calendar.
Oscar Piastri enters this year’s race as the F1 championship leader, 13 points ahead of teammate Lando Norris and a further nine points ahead of world champion Max Verstappen.
Piastri was second at Monaco last time out, and has his sights set on becoming the fourth Australian to win the famous race.
Here are all the times an Australian driver has won the Monaco Grand Prix.
1959: Jack Brabham
Jack Brabham’s maiden victory in F1 came in the opening race of the 1959 season.
Jack Brabham celebrates his first victory in Formula 1. (Getty Images: Bernard Cahier)
Brabham started third at the Monaco Grand Prix, which was contested over 100 laps.
Only six of the 16 cars that qualified were able to finish the gruelling grand prix, which Brabham completed in a little under 3 hours.
The Australian won the race by 20 seconds from Ferrari’s Tony Brooks, who was the only other driver to finish on the lead lap.
Brabham’s victory, driving a Cooper-Climax T51, was also the first by an Australian in F1.
Jack Brabham became the first Australian to win an F1 race when he took the chequered flag at Monaco. (Getty Images: Bernard Cahier)
Monaco would be the first of two grands prix wins for Brabham, who also triumphed at the British Grand Prix at Aintree.
He would also win the F1 world championship in 1959, the first of three titles won by the Australian.
2010: Mark Webber
It would be another 51 years before an Australian stood on the top step at Monaco.
Mark Webber became the first Australian in 51 years to win the Monaco Grand Prix, starting from pole and fending off the competition. (Reuters: Action Images/Crispin Thruston)
Entering the weekend, seven drivers mathematically could have taken the lead of the F1 drivers’ championship by the end of the race.
It was Mark Webber, driving for Red Bull-Renault, who qualified on pole and claimed the win.
In a dramatic race that involved multiple safety cars, Webber remained cool under pressure and held his lead.
The victory was Webber’s first of two at Monaco and gave him the lead in the 2010 drivers’ championship.
He would ultimately finish third in that year’s championship, despite leading for large chunks of the season.
Red Bull also surged to the lead of the constructors’ championship standings, a title it would claim for the first time that season.
2012: Mark Webber
Two years on from his triumph around the streets of Monte Carlo, Mark Webber won again to become the first, and to date only, Australian to win the famous race twice.
Mark Webber became the first Australian to win the F1 Monaco Grand Prix on multiple occasions. (Supplied: Sutton Images)
The 2012 edition of the Monaco Grand Prix was hotly contested, with several pit strategies playing out as rain threatened throughout the race.
Webber started on pole, despite qualifying second fastest behind Michael Schumacher for Mercedes.
A pre-existing grid penalty meant Schumacher started fifth, while Webber started on pole ahead of Schumacher’s teammate Nico Rosberg.
Rain threatened throughout the afternoon, but never came, with some teams opting to keep drivers out for longer in the hope they could save themselves a pit stop.
Once the leading drivers had all pitted, Webber had the lead while the top six were separated by about 4 seconds.
Webber was harassed by the chasing pack in the closing stages, but the Red Bull driver was flawless to claim the win.
That win was Webber’s first in 2012.
He also became the sixth different driver to win in the opening six races that season — an F1 record.
Two weeks later, Lewis Hamilton triumphed in Canada, meaning seven different drivers had claimed a race win in the opening seven rounds of that season.
2018: Daniel Ricciardo
Daniel Ricciardo’s win at the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix was redemption for two years prior.
Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo jumps into a pool as he celebrates winning the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix. (Reuters: Benoit Tessier)
Ricciardo was comfortably leading in 2016 when his team called him in for a pit stop.
The Australian should have had enough time to pit and re-emerge in the lead, but the Red Bull mechanics had not received the message he was coming in, and Ricciardo pulled into his box without the new tyres ready to be attached.
Lewis Hamilton took the lead as Ricciardo exited the pits and the British champion went on to win.
Two years later, Ricciardo would produce the finest drive of his career to win.
The Australian started on pole and everything was going well until lap 28 of 78.
He complained about a loss of power, which was later revealed to be a failure of the car’s MGU-K, a part of the hybrid engine system that is responsible for recovering kinetic energy from the brakes and turning it into electrical power.
Ricciardo’s car was underpowered due to a fault with his engine. (Reuters: Benoit Tessier)
For the final 50 laps of the race, Ricciardo nursed his underpowered car, holding off Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel to claim the win.
Ricciardo diving into the Monaco swimming pool became one of F1’s most iconic moments of the modern era.
