Alan Jones: A Career Retrospective

By Joe Murphy

Alan Jones is one of those former Formula 1 World Champions who seems to always go under the radar. He certainly isn’t one of the first names most people think of when recounting them. Perhaps this has to do with the fact that he didn’t dominate the sport like some of his successors or predecessors. Born in 1946, the Australian made history when he became the first driver to win a Formula One World Championship with the Williams team in 1980. Moreover, he was only the second Australian to win that coveted title, following triple world champion Sir Jack Brabham.

Out of the 117 Grand Prix Jones entered across his 11-year stint in the sport, he claimed 12 victories and a further 24 podiums. He also boasts six pole positions and 13 fastest laps during his glittering career.

Perhaps his proudest achievement is the fact that he is, at the time of writing, also the last Australian driver to win the Australian Grand Prix, standing on the top step of the 1980 race at Calder Park Raceway. Furthermore, he did so after lapping the majority of the grid.

His debut officially came at the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix at Montjuïc, although this wasn’t for Williams. He didn’t join that prestigious contractor until three years later. Instead, he raced with Hesketh. His efforts went somewhat under the radar, considering this is the event where five spectators were tragically killed.

He was then called up to represent Graham Hill’s team, although this was only for a handful of races (4 to be exact), where he could only manage a best finish of 5th position. The eventual success he would achieve came after many obstacles, that’s for sure.

He earned his first full-time Formula One drive in 1976, racing in a car genuinely sponsored by Durex. This didn’t ‘affect his performance’; however, achieving many strong finishes in the TS19, although still a podium, let alone a victory, eluded him. In what can only be labelled as a gamble, Jones then turned down a seat to remain with the team in the hope of something more competitive. For now, nothing came up, so the Aussie sat out the entire 1977 campaign.

Having gone to race in America during his temporary hiatus from Formula 1, he was eventually signed by the Shadow team to replace Tom Pryce, who had lost his life in a tragic racing accident. Jones capitalised on this door that had suddenly become open, claiming his first victory at the Österreichring and also finishing a (to this point) career-best seventh in the championship standings with 22 points. It just goes to show how fewer points were on offer just over 40 years ago.

Later that same year, he met with Enzo Ferrari. Ferrari had a meeting with him at Maranello, but in the end, they opted to select Gilles Villeneuve instead. Then, he spoke to Frank Williams, who was looking to rebuild his Formula One racing team after struggling for any kind of success in its first few years.

With the team in need of a deep reset in an attempt to gain any kind of success, it was Jones who was chosen to give them their first taste of it, to which he duly obliged. After getting fully to grips with the car presented to him, he was a World Champion within 3 years. Less than a year after this, he retired from the sport, aside from a few cameo appearances for Haas later in the decade.

While retired in 1983, Jones was contacted again by an apologetic Enzo Ferrari. Following the death of Gilles Villeneuve as well as the forced retirement of Didier Pironi, the team this time decided to offer a seat to the Australian. However, he was enjoying retirement and living close to his family, so he turned them down. He has since said on the record that he regrets this decision, at least partly, because Ferrari won the Constructors Championship that very season, so more success technically would have been all but guaranteed.

Since retiring from the driving aspect of the sport, Jones has gone on to do punditry and commentary work for various media outlets, mainly across Australia, where Le lives to this day. He has also worked in other areas of motorsport in the 30 years since, offering valuable technical help and expert racing insight, as well as having written his own book.

So, that is the condensed version of the story of Alan Jones. He lived his dream, raced for a prestigious team, and achieved things that many talented drivers before and after him simply haven’t managed. He’ll always be a Formula 1 World Champion, and there isn’t anybody who can take that away from him.