Australian formula 1 world champion Alan Jones has passed away at the age of 80 following a short illness, with Speedcafe reports indicating he had been diagnosed with cancer only weeks earlier. The news comes just days after he celebrated his 80th birthday on Monday, a milestone he marked by enjoying his favourite caviar while staying off the Grey Goose for once in his life, according to his wife Amanda.
Tributes quickly flowed for the Melbourne-born racer, who claimed the 1980 F1 world championship with Williams to become only the second Australian to win the drivers' title after Sir Jack Brabham. Commentator Eddie McGuire, paying tribute on Nine's Crown Oaks Day coverage from Flemington, remembered Jones as a straight shooter and a superstar of the track and broadcasting. McGuire recalled co-hosting alongside Jones at the first-ever Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix at Albert Park, where Jones was part of Nine's commentary ensemble when the network held broadcast rights.
Let's not kid each other. I used to fly the Australian flag on my overalls and was very proud to be Australian, but at the end of the day I did it for yourself, no-one else.
Born in Melbourne on November 2, 1946, Jones followed his father Stan into racing and later moved to Britain to pursue his ambitions, supporting his efforts with small business ventures while fighting for competitive machinery. Following his father's death in 1973, Jones won a Formula Three race at Silverstone, placing the winner's laurel wreath in his father's coffin before finishing runner-up in the British championship that year. Across 116 starts in a career that included spells with Hesketh, Hill, Surtees, Shadow, Williams, Arrows and Haas, he took 12 victories, notably securing Shadow's only F1 win at the 1977 Austrian Grand Prix—where organisers played 'Happy Birthday' on a trumpet instead of the Australian national anthem.
His move to the fledgling Williams operation in 1978 alongside team founder Frank Williams and technical chief Patrick Head transformed everyone's fortunes. After finishing third in the standings in 1979 with four wins, Jones dominated the 1980 season with victories in Argentina, France, Britain, Canada and the United States to secure Williams its first drivers' world title and end a 14-year wait for another Australian champion. Frank Williams famously described him as "a man's man" and great fun to be with. Jones added two wins in 1981 to finish third again before retiring from F1 at the end of the year, though he later made a one-off return with Arrows in 1983 and a final comeback with the Beatrice-backed Haas team in 1985 and 1986.
Jones' racing exploits extended far beyond grand prix machinery. He dominated the 1982 Australian Sports Sedan and GT Championship by winning all nine rounds in a Porsche 935, won the 1993 Bathurst 12 Hour in a Mazda RX-7, finished second in the 1995 Bathurst 1000 alongside Allan Grice, and made his final Bathurst appearance in 2002 for Dick Johnson Racing alongside Greg Ritter before retiring from motor racing that year. Afterwards, he worked in television commentary, served as a director of Australia's A1 Grand Prix team, and returned to the F1 paddock in 2010 as an FIA stewards' adviser.
Recognised with an MBE in 1980, induction into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985, and elevation to Legend status in the Australian Motor Sport Hall of Fame in 2019, Jones also had a bronze bust unveiled at Albert Park in 2013. In recent years he remained an outspoken observer of the modern championship, dismissing claims of team favouritism during Piastri's 2025 title fight with McLaren teammate Lando Norris as "the greatest load of nonsense of all time" and expressing belief that Piastri could join him and Brabham as Australian F1 world champions. When asked in 2013 if his achievements had been underrated in Australia, Jones offered a typically blunt response: "Let's not kid each other. I used to fly the Australian flag on my overalls and was very proud to be Australian, but at the end of the day I did it for yourself, no-one else." He is survived by his wife Amanda, their twins Zara and Jack, his daughter Camilla, and his adopted son Christian.
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