Brendan Lines May 29, 2020

Only two Australians Sir Jack Brabham and Alan Jones have claimed Formula 1’s ultimate prize to be World Champions. Yet despite the sometimes sporadic presence of Australians in Formula 1’s post-war era, their trademark grit, determination and no ’BS’ approach to racing, has left an unmistakable legacy as Formula 1 celebrates its 70th anniversary in 2020.

Of the fifteen Australian drivers that have raced in Formula 1, some have been less proclaimed than others, but nonetheless they have all been accomplished drivers in their own right. Daring to take on the glamorous and sometimes dangerous dance of Formula 1’s high stakes competition.

Never a ‘shrinking violet’

Aside from heritage, Australia’s guard of Formula 1 drivers display an inherent determination, motivation and self-sufficiency spawned from moving to Europe to climb the ranks to Formula 1.

UK Formula 1 Journalist and broadcaster Edd Straw, who has interviewed personalities the likes of Brabham, says there are common traits making Australian drivers quite revered characters.

“We come to think of Australians as direct, no nonsense, straight shooting, they say what they think and it’s very difficult to come up with examples of ones who are ‘shrinking violets’ as we might say,” Straw says.

“If you’re going to come to Europe, you’ve got to fight for a career in what’s a very difficult environment and make it, you’re going to have to be somebody who’s going to get their foot in and really make a bit of noise sometimes,

“We do expect them to be Alan Jones, Mark Webber types, and Daniel Ricciardo he’s a kind of this friendly jokey character, but underneath all that there’s a fierce competitive spirit and there are times he’s not afraid to say what he thinks,” Straw says.

So if we take that initial move to Europe as the first defining step on our nation’s Formula 1 journey, then the next step is the characters defined by turning a wheel in anger against the best in the world.

Brabham: Constructing a legend

If there is a personification of ‘Formula 1 Legend,’ then Sir Jack Brabham embodied that legend. Brabham’s will and determination encapsulated ‘Aussie fighting spirit’ on the sporting world stage in the twentieth century.

Sir Jack Brabham – Image: Drivetribe

Winning the Drivers World Championship and Constructors World Championship in a car baring his own name, is a feat that will probably never be repeated in Formula 1.

The perpetuity that comes with Brabham’s legacy is the most apt accolade that could be bestowed on him.

From his humble beginnings in the Royal Australian Air Force, Brabham throughout his career was capable of feats of ingenuity that coupled with his fierce driving would enable him to beat the best.

Brabham won the first of his three World Championships in 1959 with Cooper, but despite the successes of the team in that season, Brabham still had his frustrations with gearbox reliability.

Fabricating his own parts to modify a Citroen gearbox, Brabham improved the car’s reliability, subsequently beating his team-mate at the time, the late Sir Stirling Moss to the championship.

When we think of Formula 1’s big name constructors like Ferrari, Lotus or McLaren we think of ‘one man’s vision’ in Enzo Ferrari, Colin Chapman, and Bruce McLaren respectively.

Brabham’s partnership with engineer Ron Tauranac did create a unique dynamic, as Tauranac was a critical element to the success of the Brabham name as a World Championship winning constructor.

Ron Tauranac (left) with Sir Jack Brabham – Image: F1.com

Another successful partnership that followed was Sir Frank Williams and Sir Patrick Head. Though marginally different in that the Brabham-Tauranac pairing was a driver-engineer, the Williams-Head partnership was a owner-engineer relationship. Yet both did have the symbiotic hallmarks that made for a successful pairing.

Another example would be the pairing of Ron Dennis and John Barnard who brought about McLaren’s dominance of the 1980’s.

Brabham’s legacy built on sheer determination, toughness and grit characterises exactly what ‘Aussie fighting spirit’ in Formula 1 is.

Proudly flying the flag

Typically Australian drivers have been expected to carry the hopes of a nation alone. Brabham’s success paved the way for other Australians to get their start in Formula 1, such as driver and now Motorsport Australia administrator Tim Schenken OAM.

Schenken’s is one of the only five Australian drivers to step onto a podium and the next after Brabham.

Tim Schenken – Image: Snaplap

Schenken first drove for Brabham in 1969 in the factory Formula 2 car, but after a season stint with Frank Williams Racing Cars (now Sir Frank Williams) in 1970, Schenken returned to Brabham in 1971 posting his career best result, a third at the 1971 Austrian Grand Prix.

Schenken says wearing expectation well gives Australian drivers a certain amount of buy-in from the motorsport world.

Tim Schenken in the 1971 Brabham BT33

“I think we’re all pretty well much the same, people at the top of their sport, they are incredibly dedicated, they’re very focussed on what they are doing, there are the odd ones who are naturally gifted, but they are few and far between,

“Australians are very highly regarded as team members, drivers or whatever they do in motorsport and I’d imagine in other sports,

“There’s certainly a lot less ‘BS’ with Australians and New Zealander’s also are a bit the same,” Schenken says.

Schenken was followed by the likes of Vern Schuppan, Larry Perkins and Alan Jones throughout the 70’s and 80’s in various racing outfits.

Circling back to Schenken’s time with Williams in 1970, it would be the first time Brit Sir Frank Williams in the early guises of his career would sign an Australian driver full-time.

Later, as Team owner of Williams Grand Prix Engineering, Williams went on to sign Australian drivers Alan Jones and Mark Webber.

“I’m not sure they (Williams) are particularly attracted in that regard to Australians, mind you if you had a couple of drivers from different nationalities maybe he’d err on the side of the Australians because he knows there’s a bit of toughness and determination there,” Schenken says.

A.J: The archetype Aussie

Toughness and determination on-track mixed with trademark no ‘BS’ approach is personified by none other than 1980 World Champion Alan Jones or ‘A.J,’ who won Williams his first World Championship.

Sir Jackie Stewart (left) with Alan Jones (right) as World champion in Montreal, Canada 1980 – Image: Motorsport Images

Jones viewed any rival car as ‘another object to be passed,’ Jones never won many friends on-track with his aggressive driving style as Jones says in a 2019 interview with journalist Tom Clarkson.

“I think I was pretty aggressive, I think I was very much head down bum up and go for it, I took things personally, like if someone passed me I took it personally,” Jones says.

But Jones’ bond with Sir Frank Williams and engineer Sir Patrick Head off-track was very different, built on mutual goals and hard working ethic — all of whom were racers at heart.

Sir Frank Williams (left) Alan Jones with Sir Patrick Head (right) – Image: Allinsport

“You get the best out of me without threats or promises,” says Jones, as Williams was a master of channelling Jones’ raw and honest feedback about the car into results.

Jones recounts a conversation about an under-powered engine at Watkins Glen in 1980, where Williams said to Jones: “If I don’t believe you, I’m an idiot, because I’m employing a bloke I don’t believe, and I’m the guy who’s paying you good money to drive the car so if I don’t take notice of you, who’s the fool?” Jones says.

Off-the-back of his success with Williams, Jones created the archetype of what a no ‘BS’ Australian Formula 1 driver typically is.

Continuing the legacy of Aussie grit

If a no ‘BS’ approach forged in competition is the catalyst of the archetypes created by Australian drivers in Formula 1, so just how has their stories rhymed or echoed over 70 years of Formula 1 to create an on going legacy?

When Mark Webber came to Formula 1 scoring an ‘unthinkable’ fifth place in the 2002 Australian Grand Prix with the Australian owned Minardi outfit, many would argue Webber and Jones were cut from the same cloth.

To some point that is true, but Webber was his own man in Formula 1, taking dual Monaco Grand Prix victories (2010, 2012) across his eight career victories. Webber’s first Monaco win in 2010 was the climax to a stunning Formula 1 comeback story.

In his 2010 book ‘Up Front’ Webber says “If breaking my leg in Tasmania was the absolute low point, an accident that left me fighting for my sporting life, then Monaco less than 18 months later was the absolute high — so far,” Webber says.

Mark Webber’s famous splash into the Monaco Harbour after his 2010 win – Image: Daily Telegraph

Webber wrestled with the label of the ‘number-two’ driver from some during the most defining part of his career at Red Bull.

Yet while Webber is a very personable and liked type in the paddock, he does exude that no ‘BS’ approach of his compatriots, ensuring he was listened to and taken very seriously as a major contributor to Red Bull’s Formula 1 success.

From 2010 to 2014 Webber drove Red Bull to four successive Constructors Championships, just missing the 2010 championship to team-mate Sebastian Vettel.

The next chapter

Australia’s connection to Formula 1 may have begun through cultural ties back to Britain, but ultimately our drivers found their own way to write a unique chapter in Formula 1’s history books.

Australians have managed to arrive in the sport throughout different eras bringing a common no non-sense, no ‘BS’ approach to their racing, yet still be affable key figures that have left a long-lasting and unique impression.

The smiling ‘Honeybadger’ Daniel Ricciardo – Image: Renaultsport

As we look to the future we see similar story beats in Daniel Ricciardo’s career in some of his more serious moments and candid moments having a ‘shoey’, as he continues to fight for his World Championship dream, our story will continue to unfold.

It’s no ’BS’ Australia’s story in Formula 1 is a unique one.