Alan Jones has died: Why the Australian turned down a Ferrari offer

Alan Jones passed away on 5 November at the age of 80. The former Williams star is the most successful Formula 1 driver to come from the Grand Prix city of Melbourne: 116 World Championship starts, 24 podium finishes, 12 Grand Prix victories, 13 fastest laps, and Formula 1 World Champion in 1980 with Williams.

But during the 1981 Formula 1 season, Alan’s inner fire began to fade. The Australian struggled with the enigmatic Carlos Reutemann, and at some point Alan felt he had proven everything there was to prove to himself and the world.

But there was still Ferrari.

Years after the event, Jones recounted the following: “Winning the World Championship in 1980 was absolutely brilliant. Once I’d secured the title, I got quite emotional whilst still wearing my helmet – that’s a side of me not many people have seen. I remember standing in the shower in my hotel room and starting to dance around: ‘I’m World Champion! I’m World Champion!’ And then I went down to a hotel ballroom, and we had the wildest party you can imagine.”

“In 1981, I thought I was driving better than the year before, but we had a few problems with the reliability of the cars. And after Reutemann hadn’t stuck to our contractual agreement in Brazil, I knew – I can’t trust him. The points that Carlos snatched from me would have been enough to successfully defend my title.”

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This arrangement went as Alan Jones elaborated: “Frank Williams knew we had a superior car. So he said to us: ‘The very last thing I want is for the two of you to be leading the race and then crash into each other in the final laps, letting someone else win.’»

That’s why it was laid down in Alan’s contract: if Jones was four seconds or less behind the leader, Reutemann, then Carlos had to let him past. That had already been the arrangement in 1980.

Jones continued: “So I kept a comfortable distance and let him lead. With two laps to go, it slowly dawned on me – is this bloke perhaps not sticking to the agreement? Then I thought: Oh, come on, he’ll make a big fuss of it and pull over in the final corner or even before the finish line. Which, of course, he didn’t do. From then on, I knew I couldn’t trust him anymore.”

The call from Maranello

A good year later, the phone rang. Alan Jones: “The call came from Maranello. Didier Pironi had been in a nasty crash at Hockenheim; he’d crashed into Prost’s car in the rain, and Ferrari wanted to know if I’d step in for the injured Pironi. Well, I’d been in contact with Ferrari once before, and back then I felt they’d given me the cold shoulder from Italy.”

Background: In 1977, Ferrari wanted to poach Mario Andretti from Lotus, hoping that the Italian-American’s involvement would boost Ferrari sales in the US. But Andretti turned them down.

Consequently, Alan Jones, then a Shadow driver, signed a letter of intent with Ferrari to drive for Maranello from 1978.

But Ferrari signed the young Gilles Villeneuve behind his back and told Jones they didn’t need him after all. Alan never forgot that. He went to Williams instead.

Alan Jones continued: “So in 1982 I was still a bit offended, so I thought – well then, let’s make them wait a bit. I said on the phone that I’d be in touch again, and then I didn’t do anything at all for a while. That was a mistake. When Ferrari didn’t hear from me, they signed Mario Andretti, and he promptly put the car on pole position at Monza!”

“Just imagine, I could have been sitting in that car – I’d never have had to pay for a meal in Italy again in my life! It’s quite ironic: in 1977 they wanted Mario first, didn’t get him, and then wanted me. In 1982 they wanted me, I didn’t reply, so they got Mario. It’s strange how life works.»

“I still regret to this day that I didn’t accept the Ferrari offer. Turning it down was the daftest thing I’ve ever done in my career.”