Alan Jones was a key part of Williams’ early success. He won the drivers championship with them but the following year got into a dispute with team mate Carlos Reutemann and abruptly retired.
Jones arrived at Williams via Hesketh and Hill, whom he had a handful of drives for in 1975, then Surtees (1976) and Shadow (1977). He joined Williams in 1978 and the team began to come good the following year, though it was team mate Clay Regazzoni who gave them their first win, at Silverstone, in 1979.Jones put together a string of wins at the end of the year but the peculiar scoring system (where drivers counted only their best four results from the first and second halves of the season) kept him from challenging champion Jody Scheckter.
Scheckter and Ferrari were nowhere in 1980, though, and Jones duly delivered the title with five wins, which would have been six had the Spanish Grand Prix not been declared void due to political wrangling.
But in 1981 he fell out spectacularly with team mate Carlos Reutemann, who went against team orders to win in Brazil. Jones announced his retirement, partly out of his dislike of the stiffly-sprung ground effect cars.
Two years later, Jones was hired by the ambitious, Ford-backed Haas project. But the promise of a factory turbocharged engine produced by the blue oval took time to materialise, and they used customer Hart engines initially.
Once they arrived, the early Ford V6 turbo motors were short on power and heavy on weight, and by the time they started to come good sponsor Beatrice had pulled its funding. Jones scored a scant four points before the team closed, sending him into retirement for good.
He attempted to start the first Grand Prix Masters race in 2005 but found he lacked fitness.
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