# Alan Jones, Australia's 1980 F1 Champion, Dies at 80

Source: SportsBriefly (https://sportsbriefly.com)
Canonical URL: https://sportsbriefly.com/en/motorsports/alan-jones-australia-s-1980-f1-champion-dies-at-80-2026-11-05-69w59x
Language: en
Published: 2026-11-05T16:22:13.225+00:00
Updated: 2026-11-05T16:22:13.314413+00:00

> Alan Jones has died aged 80, three days after his 80th birthday, following a short illness.

## TL;DR
- Alan Jones has died aged 80, three days after his 80th birthday, following a short illness.
- He won the 1980 F1 title with Williams — the team's first — with five wins that season.
- Jones remains Australia's last F1 world champion and last home grand prix winner.

## Key points
- Alan Jones has died aged 80, three days after his 80th birthday, following a short illness.
- He won the 1980 F1 title with Williams — the team's first — with five wins that season.
- Jones remains Australia's last F1 world champion and last home grand prix winner.

Alan Jones, the tough Australian who gave Williams its first Formula 1 world championship, has died at the age of 80. His family announced on Thursday, 5 November 2026, that he had died following a short illness, just three days after celebrating his 80th birthday.

"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 through 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."

![Alan Jones driving the Williams FW07 at Rascasse during practice for the 1979 Monaco Grand Prix.](https://api.sportsbriefly.com/storage/v1/object/public/media/api/1793892707947-94oj7l-motorsports-inside1-2026-11-05-evening.jpg)

Jones remains, 46 years after his title, the last Australian to win the Formula 1 drivers' championship. He was only the second Australian to do it, following triple world champion Sir Jack Brabham, and he did it in a way that set the template for everything Williams would become.

Born in Melbourne on 2 November 1946, Jones was the son of racing driver Stan Jones, winner of the 1959 Australian Grand Prix. He left Australia for Europe to chase a racing career and made his Formula 1 debut in a Hesketh at the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix. The early years were hard. He drove for Hesketh, Hill and Surtees before his first win, in Austria for Shadow in 1977.

![The 1980 Williams-Ford FW07B, Jones's championship-winning car, at Goodwood in 2009.](https://api.sportsbriefly.com/storage/v1/object/public/media/api/1793892723756-ufm2n3-motorsports-inside2-2026-11-05-evening.jpg)

Everything changed when he joined Williams in 1978. Frank Williams was still building his team and needed a driver as stubborn and self-reliant as he was. Jones was that driver. Frank Williams later said of him: "He never needed propping up mentally, because he was a very determined and bullish character. He didn't need any babysitting or hand-holding and that's the way it should be."

In 1979 the Williams FW07, designed by Patrick Head, gave Jones a car capable of winning regularly. He won four of the last five races of that season. In 1980, in the developed FW07B, he turned that promise into a championship. He won five world championship races — in Argentina, France, Britain, Canada and the United States at Watkins Glen — and finished on the podium in all but one of the grands prix he completed, clinching the title ahead of Brazilian Nelson Piquet. Williams also won its first constructors' championship that year, the first of nine it would collect across the 1980s and 1990s.

It was a championship won the hard way, in a 14-race season, in a ground-effect car that demanded physical strength and absolute commitment. Jones was not a polished corporate driver in the modern sense. He was blunt, funny, combative and famously straight-talking, and Australian fans loved him for it. Williams called him, in its tribute on Thursday, "a fast, uncompromising racer with a challenger mentality who loved motor racing and dedicated his life to it."

Williams said Jones was "instrumental in making Williams what it is today, forming an extraordinary bond with Frank Williams and Patrick Head to become our first Drivers' World Champion in just our fourth season in Formula 1. He is a true Australian icon and a Williams legend, and he will be dearly missed."

Formula 1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali added that Jones's place in the sport's history was assured, "not least for bringing Williams their first Drivers' and Constructors' World Championships in 1980, a defining moment for the team and our sport. But beyond his achievements on track, Alan will be remembered for his character, his passion and the lasting mark he left on Formula 1."

Jones started 116 Formula 1 races and won 12 grands prix. His last victory came in Las Vegas in 1981, and he retired at the end of that season, having turned down an approach from Ferrari. He returned briefly with the new Haas team in 1985, racing through 1986 before retiring for good. He kept racing at home in touring cars and endurance events, mostly in Australia, until the early years of the new century, last competing in V8 Supercars in 2002.

After racing he became a popular straight-talking pundit on Australian television. His wife said: "Alan dedicated his life to motorsport, building a legacy that will live on through the countless people he touched along the way."

One record in particular has proved remarkably durable. Jones also won the 1980 Australian Grand Prix at Calder Park Raceway in Melbourne, in his championship-winning FW07B, lapping much of the field. It remains the last time an Australian driver has won his home grand prix. No Australian has won the drivers' championship since, despite the efforts of Mark Webber, Daniel Ricciardo and now Oscar Piastri, who paid tribute on Thursday by sharing the Australian Grand Prix's post marking Jones's life, 1946–2026. Webber, who first met Jones in the 1990s and received his support throughout his own career, joined the tributes.

Formula 1 is in Brazil this week for the São Paulo Grand Prix, where 20-year-old Kimi Antonelli arrives as the sport's youngest-ever world champion. Jones was 33 when he won his title, in his sixth season, after years in cars that could not win. Antonelli's rapid rise shows how much the sport has changed; Jones's career shows what it used to demand.

Jones is survived by his wife and six children. His family thanked "everyone who was part of Alan's journey for the many years of friendship, love and support," and said he "was incredibly fortunate to have so many wonderful people around him."

Few champions mattered more to their team. Williams arrived as a championship force with Alan Jones, and the standard he set stayed long after he left. That is why, 46 years on, Australia is still waiting for its next world champion.

Mentions: Alan Jones, Williams, Formula 1, Motorsport Australia, Amanda Butler-Davis, Stefano Domenicali, Jack Brabham, Nelson Piquet, Frank Williams, Patrick Head, Mark Webber, Oscar Piastri, Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

## Sources
- [skysports.com](https://www.skysports.com/f1/news/13608235/former-formula-1-world-champion-alan-jones-dies-aged-80)
- [reuters.com](https://www.reuters.com/sports/formula1/reaction-death-australian-f1-world-champion-jones-2026-11-05/)
- [channelnewsasia.com](https://www.channelnewsasia.com/sport/australian-f1-world-champion-alan-jones-dies-aged-80-6526221)