{"id":332424,"date":"2025-12-07T08:56:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T08:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/332424\/"},"modified":"2025-12-07T08:56:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T08:56:09","slug":"australias-1980-f1-world-champion-on-his-amazing-career-and-piastri","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/332424\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s 1980 F1 world champion on his amazing career\u2026 and Piastri"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alan Jones has some typically direct advice for Oscar Piastri.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe just needs to keep the dickheads away. Not let things get under his skin,\u201d Jones says bluntly.<\/p>\n

The 1980 world champion knows the kid is good and confidently predicts he will be a world champion at some stage during his Formula One career. That\u2019s a big vote of confidence from one of the toughest racers to ever strap into a grand prix car.<\/p>\n

So, here is some history and context. Jones is brutal and honest. He has no time for BS and, even at 80 years of age, delivers his opinions like a one-two punch in the ring. There were times when he really let his fists do the talking, once in a road-rage confrontation in London and another time when he dropped a belligerent car dealer after the South African Grand Prix. There was also a stoush with a circuit official who tried to stop \u2018AJ\u2019 on a race weekend in Australia\u2026<\/p>\n

Famously, he worked against his Williams team-mate Carlos Reutemann in the 1981 title decider as payback after the Argentine had ignored team orders earlier in the season and stolen a win from Jones. Nelson Piquet, driving for Brabham, claimed his first world title thanks to Jones and his mind games.
\u201cReutemann was f***ed in the head and gave up,\u201d Jones recalls, speaking with Wheels at his home on the northern Gold Coast. \u201cI lapped him in that race, which was ridiculous.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m still hated in Argentina to this day. Back then I needed a police escort from the airport to the hotel, and taxi drivers \u2013 and even marshalls at the track\u2013 were flipping me the bird.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

1<\/p>\n

Many said Jones was even tougher than Australia\u2019s original gritty world champion, Jack Brabham. Sir Jack was known for dropping his car\u2019s back wheels off the track to fire stones at his racing rivals, a trick he learned in dirt-track speedway at home in Sydney. Jones? He was tough. Uncompromising. Driven. Successful.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a pretty aggressive driver. If someone passed me, I took it personally. If they touched me up, that was fine. I\u2019d just tell them \u2018I\u2019ve got you in my book for next time\u2019,\u201d Jones said. \u201cIf somebody asked how I\u2019d slept I\u2019d tell them like a baby, even if I\u2019d been awake all night worrying about something. Never show weakness, that was my mantra.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones turned 80 shortly after this interview and lives a quiet life with his second wife, Amanda, and their three dogs and a cat. He\u2019s had a tough time after suffering a heart attack this year that has slowed him down but not beaten him. He loves MotoGP racing, monitors the Supercars scene, and tracks Piastri in F1. \u201cWhat gets me up in the morning is certainly not mowing the lawns,\u201d he laughed.<\/p>\n

Jones grew up in a motoring family. His father Stan was a car dealer in Melbourne and won both the Australian and New Zealand grands prix as a driver. But he was never supportive of his son\u2019s ambitions and AJ \u2013 with his first wife Beverley \u2013 resorted to renting rooms at their home in London and selling second-hand cars to fund his racing.<\/p>\n

He scored his big breakthrough in the Austrian Grand Prix in 1977 driving an unfancied Shadow, before being recruited to lead Williams Grand Prix. \u201cI always thought I was good enough,\u201d he remembers. \u201cBut Formula One has never been easy. At the end of the day, there have always been 20 million young men around the world who want to put their arse into 20 cars on the grid.<\/p>\n

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1<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of it is luck. And the other thing is, when you get to that place, you\u2019ve got to be able to take advantage of it. There are quite a few young buggers with enormous talent who will never be able to show it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones had already starred in brutally fast V8 Can-Am sports cars in the USA and he loved the challenge of getting the best from the original ground-effects F1 racers, which used inverted wings to suck themselves to the road. He muscled his way to the front, much like Nigel Mansell in a later generation. He took the same approach off the track.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re a real racer you just want to put your arse in a car and race. All the rest is justification. I hated doing the PR stuff. \u201cIf had to go to a dinner, and I was sat next to the MD\u2019s wife, she might ask if I\u2019d had any bad accidents. So I would say \u2018There was that time when my left arm was ripped off, but it\u2019s amazing what they can do with micro-surgery.\u2019 I would just have some fun, to get through the meal.\u201d<\/p>\n

His view of modern F1, therefore, is no surprise. \u201cI couldn\u2019t stand being in F1 now. I would love the money and the private jets. But not the rest of it, like turning up to the interview pen after the race.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to be one of those \u2018in my day\u2019 people, but I\u2019ve lost it with Formula One to a certain degree.<\/p>\n

If you saw a gap you went for it. You rubbed wheels. Now there is a bloody inquest, or you get fined 3500 grid positions into the next five races.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s called racing. Now you\u2019ve got to be careful, you can\u2019t do this and you can\u2019t do that. A good old \u2018brake test\u2019 to someone behind never hurts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

1<\/p>\n

Jones bailed on F1 because he was homesick and frustrated, but he tried two comebacks. The first with the Arrows team was a total disaster, starting from a cockpit that was too small and had him resorting to a hammer to make space. Then came a big-money deal with the Beatrice food conglomerate in the USA, along with a Lola chassis and a Ford V8 engine.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always given 110 per cent in my racing and the only thing I ask is 110 back. If the owner or team put in 110, then I would be happy. But the Ford Motor Company were so full of shit. Their engine wouldn\u2019t pull the skin off the proverbial.\u201d<\/p>\n

Things were so bad Jones deliberately drove off the road and into an early retirement at the Portuguese Grand Prix in 1985.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took me three goes to get the stupid thing bogged. I thought I might hurt myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

He had dabbled at home with some touring car racing and, after his full-time return to Australia \u2013 there is no time to talk about the failed attempt at farming, or his boat dealership \u2013 was a regular through the 1990s in what has become Supercars.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was back in Australia I thought I might as well go and race something. I loved racing the Porsche 935 for Alan Hamilton and won the Australian Championship (with 16 wins from 16 starts). You always enjoy it when you\u2019re winning, but it was a beast of a thing to drive\u2026 we had a good team and Alan was a ripper bloke.\u201d<\/p>\n

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1<\/p>\n

He raced Commodores and Falcons, even a Mazda RX-7, but never threatened the scorers at Bathurst and couldn\u2019t mount a successful touring car campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s amazing the things you forget. At Bathurst in \u201994 I was dicing with Brockie in the wet. We were inches away from each other for 15 or 20 laps and it was great. He was clean and never did anything dirty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Life on the Gold Coast in 2025 is not great, but Jones is pragmatic and honest. There are no signs of trophies and just a couple of pieces of memorabilia. The real memories are in his head.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat can you do with trophies? You can\u2019t eat them. Nigel also sold all his trophies. I\u2019ve been very fortunate. I\u2019ve got a very active wife who is very clever with computers. Amanda has given me twins, who keep me on my toes, and Zara is into horses and Jack is mad on his golf. There is also Christian (his adopted son with Beverly). I have a daughter in New York who is a solicitor and another much older daughter in Tasmania, and a couple of grand-daughters. \u201cThey are all interesting,\u201d he laughs.<\/p>\n

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1<\/p>\n

Despite the absence of sentiment and silverware from his career, he is chasing down his F1 trophy \u2013 it\u2019s a replica, after the original was sold \u2013 after loaning it to Motorsport Australia and nearly losing it.
Asked to reflect, Jones has straightforward views on other Aussies in F1.<\/p>\n

\u201cJack Brabham was a pretty straightforward sort of a bloke. When I first got to England I asked if I could look through the factory, and he said \u2018Don\u2019t bring any of your mates\u2019. I like [former Aussie early \u201970s F1 driver] Tim Schenken, even if a lot of people don\u2019t. He was a bloody good driver and outside F1, he drove works Ferrari sports after all.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have a great deal to do with Mark Webber. He\u2019s nice. I never really rated him at the beginning, but I took Christian to a go-kart race in Canberra a thousand years ago and this kid came up and asked how to get to F1. I probably gave him a smart arse answer, as I would have in those days, and it was him.\u201d<\/p>\n

What about Piastri, then, and the battle for the 2025 world championship?<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s obviously doing a good job. He keeps cool. He\u2019s fast,\u201d said Jones. \u201cHe\u2019s pretty savvy with his handling of the press. When I was ahead in the standings people were already saying \u2018Good luck champ\u2019. I used to hate that.\u201d<\/p>\n

What then, is Jones\u2019 view of the championship battle. At the time of this interview with Wheels there were still four races of the season still to run, and Jones was optimistic.<\/p>\n

\"Oscar<\/p>\n

1<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what is going to happen. To be honest, I think mentally he (Piastri) is the stronger of the two. I certainly felt that way four or five races ago. But Lando has bounced back. Two or three races ago I would have said Oscar is quicker. But now I think they are on a par. Mentally, if it gets down to the end then I would back Oscar. I think he is stronger.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut what\u2019s making it really interesting is Max Verstappen coming back. I think he\u2019s stronger than the two of them put together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even so, no matter where the title goes for 2025, Jones says it\u2019s not even close to over for Oscar Piastri. \u201cReally, it\u2019s only his second year, and he is only 24. With the talent he\u2019s got there will be people chasing him. They all wouldn\u2019t mind having him in their team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he will have other chances. But he should go for it anyway. Then again, if I say \u2018Go for it now\u2019 then what has he been doing up to now?\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\"\"<\/p>\n

\nFeatures<\/p>\n

The Wheels Interview: Meet Kees Weel, the knockabout Aussie who cools Formula 1 cars and satellites<\/p>\n

\nThey call him \u2018the radiator man\u2019 \u2013 Kees Weel is a Dutch immigrant who discovered he had a way with car radiators and has now built a $1 billion Aussie business providing cooling solutions to an amazing array of high-profile clients.<\/p>\n

May 27, 2025\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The article originally appeared in the December 2025 issue of Wheels. Subscribe here and gain access to 12 issues for $109 plus online access to every Wheels issue since 1953<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alan Jones has some typically direct advice for Oscar Piastri. \u201cHe just needs to keep the dickheads away.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":332425,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[64,63,817,813,816,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-332424","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-f1","11":"tag-formula-1","12":"tag-formula1","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/332425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}