Alan
Jones

Alan Jones was born on 2 November 1946 in Melbourne. His father, Stan Jones, was a racing driver who won the 1959 Australian Grand Prix. Alan first worked in his father's car dealership and raced a Mini and a Cooper on the side. He went to Europe in 1967 but returned to Australia at first, then set about building his career in Britain from 1970. In Formula Three he lost the 1973 title in the final round at Brands Hatch because of an engine problem, driving a GRD. In 1975 he drove a Hesketh 308 in Formula One for Harry Stiller.

His first race was the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix. He then drove four races for Graham Hill's team, with a fifth place at the Nürburgring as his best result. In 1976 he raced for Surtees, and fourth place in the season finale in Japan was his best finish. In 1977 he took over the seat of Tom Pryce, who had died in a racing accident, at Shadow and won his first Grand Prix at the Österreichring. He finished seventh in the championship.

Jones drove for Williams from 1978 to 1981. In 1978 he also won the Can-Am title in a Lola. In 1979 he finished third in the championship. In 1980 he became World Champion, 13 points ahead of Nelson Piquet. He was the first Williams driver to win the title and, after Jack Brabham, the second Australian to do so. In November 1980 he also won the non-championship Australian Grand Prix at Calder Park. In 1981 he was third in the standings again, a year marked by a fierce rivalry with Carlos Reutemann. He announced his retirement for the time after the 1981 season, which he closed with a win in Las Vegas.

In 1983 he returned for a single championship race with Arrows at Long Beach. From late 1985 he drove for the newly formed Haas team in Lola cars, and he was twelfth in the 1986 championship. He retired from Formula One for good after that season. He had started 116 races, with 12 wins, 24 podiums and 6 pole positions.

He also raced in sports cars and touring cars. In 1984 he finished sixth at Le Mans in a Kremer Porsche. In 1985 he stood in for the injured Mario Andretti at Road America and finished third. In 1993 he was runner-up in the Australian Touring Car Championship. His last race was the 2002 Bathurst 1000, which he finished seventh. From 1987 to 2002 he commentated on Formula One for Channel Nine. He was made an MBE in 1980 and inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1989.

Source: Wikipedia, “Alan Jones (racing driver)”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.