Published
05 NOV 2026
Est. reading time
3 min
Williams is saddened to learn of the passing of Alan Jones, our first Formula 1 World Champion and a true legend of the sport. We look back on the remarkable career of the Australian who helped establish Williams as a Championship-winning team.
It was in 1980 where he would join the legendary Jack Brabham to become an Australian F1 title winner. The Melbourne native had motorsport coursing through his veins thanks to his father, Stan Jones, who raced and won the Australian open-wheel Championship.
Unlike his father, who had rejected the allure of Europe in his youth, Alan headed over in his early twenties to try his hand at fighting his peers on racetracks around the continent.
Jones clawed his way through the junior ladder, battling with financial barriers that limited the impact he could make while still showing enough flashes of potential to attract some sponsorship for a British Formula 3 Championship seat.
His results in the UK took Alan to Formula Atlantic, which, in turn, led to a drive for a privateer team who would hand an F1 debut drive to him in 1975 at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Now a known quantity in the sport, other doors began to open. Alan would find a full-time drive for 1976 at Surtees Racing before switching to Shadow in 1977, where a maiden win at the rain-affected Austrian Grand Prix awaited.
The ability Alan showcased caught the eye of the newly-formed Williams team, and the two joined forces for the 1978 season where he would take our first podium at the United States Grand Prix with a P2 finish.
Alan en route to our first podium finish.
Wins were just around the corner, though, and Williams would become a force of F1 in 1979. Alan's four victories took him to third in the Drivers' Championship and his team to P2 in the Constructors'.
Building on that upward trajectory, there was only one way the 1980 season would go. Alan would glide his way to the Championship ahead of Nelson Piquet. The margin of victory saw Jones outscore every other constructor by himself to ensure Williams took their first Constructors' Championship with ease, too.
Although a second successive title would go Williams’ way in 1981, Jones fell just short of taking the Championship himself - despite bookending his campaign with Grand Prix wins - and chose to depart F1.
Although his F1 retirement was short-lived, thanks to some brief returns for Arrows and a failed season with Team Haas in the ‘80s, his glory days were over, and he'd never reach the rostrum again.
A proud Aussie, Alan would later return to his homeland to race in the V8 Supercar Championship as well as lend his voice in the commentary booth for Australian Formula 1 broadcasts.
Our thoughts are with Alan’s family, friends and all those who knew and loved him. His contribution to Williams and our sport will never be forgotten.
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