Australian F1 world champion Alan Jones dies aged 80

MELBOURNE, Nov 5 - Former Formula One world champion Alan Jones has died at the age of 80 after a short illness, the Australian Grand Prix Corporation said on Thursday.

Jones became Australia's second world champion after Jack Brabham when he secured the drivers' title in 1980 in a first for the storied Williams team.

Born in Melbourne the son of a racing driver, Jones headed to Europe to further his racing ambitions and made his Formula One debut in a Hesketh at the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix.

He took the first of his 12 race wins in Austria for the Shadow team in 1977 but his career was largely undistinguished until he joined Williams in 1978.

Jones won five world championship races in the 1980 season and finished on the podium in all but one of the grands prix he completed to clinch the title ahead of Brazilian Nelson Piquet.

He remains Australia's last Formula One champion and the last local to win the Australian Grand Prix, which he did in 1980 when it was not part of the world championship. REUTERS