Oscar Piastri is hoping to become the first home driver to win the Australian Grand Prix as an F1 event McLaren's Oscar Piastri finished the first day of the new Formula 1 season in first place after Friday practice at the Australian Grand Prix. The narrative of the weekend so far has been about Aston Martin's plight at the back of the field as much as the fight at the front, following the biggest regulation change in the sport's history. Aston Martin finished the day five seconds off the pace, and team principal Adrian Newey has laid bare the team's struggles across two compelling news conferences. Newey also revealed that star driver Fernando Alonso is in a "hard mental place" as a result of engine partner Honda's lack of performance and reliability, and that he himself "feels a bit powerless". At the front of the field, Piastri was 0.214 seconds quicker than Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli at the end of the second session.…