Oscar Piastri pays emotional tribute to F1 legend Alan Jones

Oscar Piastri has paid a deeply personal tribute to Alan Jones, the Australian Formula 1 legend who died on Thursday at age 80 after a short illness.

The McLaren driver spoke ahead of this weekend’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix in Brazil.

He described Jones not only as Australia’s most recent world champion, but as a man of rare honesty.

“Obviously a very sad day,” Piastri told F1 TV.

“I think a life that should be very well celebrated.”

Piastri recalled the encouragement Jones gave him throughout his career.

Jones had publicly backed Piastri to become Australia’s next world champion.

Earlier this year, Jones told the Sydney Morning Herald: “He’s just an extremely talented bloke, as in talented like you don’t see all that often.”

Jones added: “He’s got the attributes, the mind and whatever else it takes to become a world champion.”

Piastri also had the honor of driving the Williams FW07 that carried Jones to the 1980 world title.

“I’ve had the honour to drive his world championship-winning car as well,” Piastri said.

“So very cool to be able to experience that and connect with him in some kind of way.”

Jones was the first driver to win a world championship for the Williams team.

Williams released a statement calling him “a true Williams legend.”

The team said: “He set the standard for Williams champions: a fast, uncompromising racer with a challenger mentality who loved motor racing and dedicated his life to it.”

Claire Williams, daughter of team founder Frank Williams, added her own tribute.

“Alan is a hugely important part of Williams and F1’s history,” she said.

“He played a critical role in the team’s earliest success, working closely with Dad and Patrick Head to launch Williams into the history books.”

F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali called Jones “a true great of our sport and an extraordinary racer.”

Piastri focused on Jones’s personality as much as his achievements.

“A guy that had a lot of success on the race track and Australia’s most recent world champion,” he said.

“But I think also the person he was, a very, very straightforward person.”

“Straight to the point.”

Piastri added that Jones often said nice things about him.

“On a personal level as well he often had nice things to say about me, which was nice,” he said.

Jones had been a vocal supporter of Piastri even after the 24-year-old missed out on the 2025 title to teammate Lando Norris.

Jones believed Piastri had the temperament to go all the way.

“He wears his emotions less on his sleeve than some of the others, and that’s a quality you need,” Jones said.

Piastri now heads into the Sao Paulo Grand Prix looking to end a difficult run.

He has gone 15 races without a podium since Miami.

That equals the longest such stretch of his Formula 1 career.

His most recent outing in Mexico City ended in disappointment.

A post-race penalty dropped him from eighth to 15th after a late collision with Racing Bulls driver Arvid Lindblad.

Piastri accepted the 10-second penalty under the FIA’s driving standards guidelines.

But he suggested those guidelines might need tweaking for corners like the Mexican opening complex.

“I think looking at the guidelines, it’s kind of hard to argue against the penalty,” Piastri said.

“But I think that set of corners in Mexico, that’s where the guidelines are very tricky to enforce.”

The collision happened when Piastri hung his McLaren around the outside of Lindblad into Turn 1.

He intended to gain the inside line for the immediate approach of Turn 2.

Both drivers held their lines.

Lindblad’s rear-left wheel made contact with Piastri’s front right.

That sprung the Racing Bulls car into the air, into the exit wall and out of the race.

Piastri was classified in 13th place after the field bunched up behind a safety car.

The FIA’s driving standards guidelines state that a driver on the inside must have its front axle level with the mirrors of the car in front to earn racing room at the apex.

For an outside line move, the attacking driver must have their front axle level with that of the defending car.

“Every corner’s slightly different, every sequence of corners especially,” Piastri said.

“It kind of feels like when your only option to avoid an incident is to cut the track, you’re not left in a great place.”

He acknowledged that Lindblad was “very robust.”

“If you look at the guidelines he had the right to [defend],” Piastri said.

“I think also for myself I had the right to try and make that move stick until the point where I tried to back out which is when we collided.”

Speaking about the upcoming Sao Paulo Grand Prix, Piastri simply hoped for a “cleaner” weekend.

McLaren is pursuing third place in the constructors’ championship over Red Bull.

The team fell behind Red Bull after Austin.

Piastri acknowledged the frustration of his long podium drought.