The wild Austrian GP that launched a future champion
Alan Jones's maiden grand prix victory was also the Shadow squad's sole win. Neither expected that result from a 14th-place starting position, but it would spur the Australian on his path to become a future Formula 1 world champion
No one expected Alan Jones to win the 1977 Austrian Grand Prix. Not local hero and pole winner Niki Lauda, sitting pretty at the top of the world championship points, nor anyone else at the sharp end of the grid at the Osterreichring. And probably not Jones and his Shadow team, and certainly not the race organisers.
That explains why it wasn't the still semi-official national anthem, Advance Australia Fair, that played as the Shadow driver stood atop what went for the podium in Austria, nor the more formal God Save the Queen. Rather, remembers Jones, "some bloke with a trumpet, who was obviously pissed, played Happy Birthday".
Share Or Save This Story
Peugeot surprised by severity of WEC Balance of Performance hit
Jota's first Le Mans car to return to competition
Why Porsche doesn't expect another WEC domination at Imola
Ferrari, Toyota receive biggest BoP breaks for WEC's Imola round
Gounon replaces Habsburg for Alpine Hypercar debut at Imola's WEC round
IMSA team boss Taylor to race ex-Scheckter Wolf F1 car at Monaco Historic
Cadillac confirms two-driver Hypercar line-up as Imola WEC entry list announced
Why Peugeot had no choice but to revamp its radical Le Mans Hypercar
Why Norris' China F1 sprint pole lap was deleted and reinstated
Norris' F1 China sprint pole lap down to "all or nothing" approach
F1 team-mates' qualifying battles: Chinese GP
2024 F1 Chinese GP sprint qualifying results: Norris takes pole
Why F1 2026 worst case fears could be key to new rules success
How the F1 driver market situation sits for each team with 2025 openings
What's been going wrong for Leclerc in F1's tiny margins qualifying game
What the Chinese GP's highlights reveal about its first F1 race for five years
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
