Jones won 1980 drivers' title with Williams, securing 12 Grand Prix victories during his Formula 1 career
ANKARA
Alan Jones, the most recent Australian driver to win the Formula 1 World Championship and the first to claim the title with Williams, died Thursday at the age of 80 following a short illness.
His wife, Amanda Butler-Davis, announced his death in a statement released through Motorsport Australia.
"He will be dearly missed and fondly remembered by those closest to him," she said, adding that his legacy would live on through those he influenced.
Born in Melbourne on Nov. 2, 1946, Jones had celebrated his 80th birthday just three days before his death.
The son of Australian racing driver Stan Jones, he moved to Europe to pursue a career in international motorsport, making his Formula 1 debut with Hesketh at the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix.
He secured his first victory with Shadow at the 1977 Austrian Grand Prix before joining Williams the following season.
After winning four races and finishing third in the 1979 championship, Jones claimed five victories in 1980 to beat Brazil's Nelson Piquet to the drivers' title.
The triumph made him Australia's second Formula 1 world champion after three-time title winner Jack Brabham and delivered Williams its first drivers' crown. The team also secured its maiden constructors' championship that season.
Jones added two victories in 1981, finishing third in the standings. His win at the Caesars Palace Grand Prix in Las Vegas that year proved to be his last in Formula 1.
He initially retired at the end of the season but briefly returned with Arrows in 1983 before joining the new Haas team in 1985 and competing through 1986.
Jones also won the Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne's Calder Park Raceway in 1980, five years before the event became part of the Formula 1 World Championship.
After leaving Formula 1, he continued competing in touring cars and endurance racing, winning the 1982 Australian Sports Sedan and GT Championship and the 1993 Bathurst 12 Hour.
He also finished second at the 1995 Bathurst 1000.
Following his retirement from competition in 2002, Jones became a motorsport television commentator and later served as an adviser to Formula 1 stewards.
He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1980 and inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985 and the Australian Motor Sport Hall of Fame in 2016.
He is survived by his wife and six children: Christian, Amber, Zara, Jack, Camilla and Emma.
- Dilara Hamit
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