Australia's great Formula One hope Mark Webber has launched a stinging attack on the "nanny state" that exists Down Under.

Just hours before Webber takes to the grid at Albert Park with his best chance to post his maiden Australian Grand Prix triumph, the two-time Grand Prix winner says the country has changed significantly since he left for Europe.

In an apparent swipe at former F1 champion Lewis Hamilton being caught by police doing a burnout in his car in Melbourne on Friday night, Webber said, half-jokingly, that he'd spent the past few days "... dodging the ridiculous speeding and parking (rules) and all the nanny-state country that we have down here in Australia".

Hamilton, who is driving for McLaren, had his Mercedes impounded by police under Victorian anti-hoon laws for an incident as he was leaving the circuit.

"I think we've got to read an instruction book when we get out of bed - what we can do and what we can't do .... put a yellow vest on and all that sort of stuff," Webber said.

"It's certainly changed since I left here. It pisses me off coming back here to be honest.

"It's a great country but we've got to be responsible for our actions and it's certainly a bloody nanny state when it comes to what we can do.

"And Lewis has found out very quickly," Webber said, referring to Hamilton's run-in with police.

Webber left Australia for England in the late 1990s, chasing his dream of becoming a Formula One driver.

The Australian has qualified second behind his teammate Sebastian Vettel for today's race.