G'day and happy birthday, Alan Jones

40

1980 Formula 1 world champion Alan Jones turns 71 today.

The Australian first competed in the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix, and went on to make 116 starts before he retired following his home race in 1986.

He was the first driver to win the title with the Williams team, and the second Australian following in the tyre marks of Sir Jack Brabham.

He competed in a total of 117 Grands Prix, winning 12 and achieving 24 podium finishes. His first victory was in Austria in 1977 while driving with the Shadow Racing team. His final win was with Williams in the United States in the final race of the 1981 season.

Since retiring from competition, Alan Jones has continued to be involved in Formula 1 as a media commentator for Australian television, and occasionally as a driver representative on the FIA race stewards panel.

His autobiography co-authored with motorsport writer Andrew Clarke - AJ: How Alan Jones Climbed to the top of Formula One - was released in August and would make an idea Christmas present for any F1 fans you might happen to know!

Pictured above is a bust of Jones unveiled in Melbourne in 2013, alongside a similar one of Brabham. So that you can compare the likeness, below you can see the never knowingly underspoken Jones on the grid undertaking his media duties.

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.