Alan Jones, 1980 Formula 1 champion, dies aged 80
Alan Jones, the last Australian to win the Formula 1 world title and the first driver to deliver a championship for Williams, died on 5 November after a short illness, Motorsport Australia said. He turned 80 on Monday.
Jones competed in Formula 1 from 1975 until 1986 and claimed the drivers' championship in 1980, becoming the first of Williams' seven world champions. Over the course of his F1 career he won 12 grands prix and started 116 World Championship races. He continued to race competitively in other formats until 2002.
"We are extremely saddened to announce the passing of our beloved Alan, who passed away on 5 November following a short illness," his wife Amanda Butler-Davis said in a statement released on her behalf by Motorsport Australia. "He will be dearly missed and fondly remembered by those closest to him, as well as the many fans whose support he was always grateful for."
Jones made his World Championship debut in a Hesketh at the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix and recorded his first victory for Shadow in Austria in 1977. He moved to Williams for the 1978 season.
After finishing third in the drivers' championship in 1979, Jones won five races in 1980 and was on the podium in all but one of the grands prix he completed that year. He secured the title ahead of Nelson Piquet.
He was the second Australian to win the F1 championship after Jack Brabham, who won in 1959, 1960 and 1966, and remains the most recent Australian winner of the Australian Grand Prix, having won at Melbourne's Calder Park Raceway in 1980 when the event was not part of the world championship. Jones finished third in the drivers' standings in 1981, took victory in Las Vegas for what proved to be his final race win, and retired at the end of that season.
Jones appeared in one race for Arrows in 1983 and later continued to compete in touring car and endurance races, mostly in Australia. He also became a popular motorsports pundit on television in his home country.
He made a full-time comeback with new team Haas in 1985 and raced largely unsuccessfully the following year, finishing his Formula 1 career with Haas in 1986. "Alan dedicated his life to motorsport, building a legacy that will live on through the countless people he touched along the way," Butler-Davis said. "Through his achievements, passion and unmistakable character, both on and off the track, Alan left an enduring mark on the sport both nationally and across the globe."