Aussie's brutal payback for 'dishonest' F1 teammate

Teammate battles that turn personal in Formula One are nothing new. In recent times, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, once close friends, fought a bitter battle for the 2016 world championship. Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber's relationship soured during their time at Red Bull. Further back, Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost fell out spectacularly at McLaren in 1988.

But the 1981 fight between Australia's Alan Jones, and Williams teammate Carlos Reutemann, who died overnight at the age of 79, was one for the ages.

Jones was the reigning world champion, having taken the team's first ever title the previous year. Reutemann had finished third in the championship three times in his career, and was second only to the legendary Juan Manuel Fangio as Argentina's most successful driver.

At the heart of this issue was a contract Reutemann had signed prior to the 1981 season that effectively gave Jones number one status within the team.

It stated that if the two Williams drivers were more than 20 seconds in front of the third placed car, with Jones and Reutemann separated by less than four seconds, then the Australian was to win the race.

As he explained in his autobiography, AJ: How Alan Jones Climbed to the Top of Formula One, Frank Williams wanted to avoid a scenario where the teammates crashed while holding a comfortable lead.

"Frank drew up the agreement and Carlos, with his eyes wide open, signed it," Jones wrote. "If he didn't like it, he should have said something.

"I am a firm believer in living by the agreements you make, whatever they are and whether or not they become less palatable over time.

"Carlos, as it turned out, did not see things that way."

The issue came to a head almost immediately, at the second race of the 1981 season in Brazil. In driving rain, Reutemann and Jones were nearly a minute ahead of third placed Riccardo Patrese, with Jones right behind Reutemann.

"The team hung out a board, 'Jones-Reut'," Jones wrote of the pit signal that told the drivers the expected finishing order.

"There was the matter of what our contracts said."

Alan Jones in action for Williams in 1981.

Despite the order, Reutemann showed no signs of moving over to let Jones through.

With the Australian having won the opening race of the season, victory in Brazil would get his championship defence off to the best possible start. Still, as the laps counted down, Jones reasoned that Reutemann was going to make a big show of moving over at the last corner, in order to make it obvious he would have won the race had he been allowed.

"On the last lap it became clear he wasn't going to honour the terms of his agreement," Jones wrote.

"I thought, "This prick's not going to do it.'

"Sure enough, he didn't. He kept going, I was furious, I could have challenged him many times. If it wasn't for the agreement I would have. I was faster and felt I could easily have won, and Frank knows too well that without the agreement I would have slipped it down the inside, or I would have had a go somewhere.

"The agreement was there to stop us taking risks with each other. Carlos didn't abide by the rules of the agreement that he signed. That's the thing that upset me.

"I didn't talk to Carlos after the race. I just said to Frank, 'All bets are off.'

"Frank only paid him for finishing second that day as a sort of fine, but if Carlos expected me to give him any help in the championship, that just went out the window."

Unfortunately for Jones, the next race in the championship was Reutemann's home race in Argentina. The Australian needed armed guards for protection and a police escort from the airport.

As luck would have it, the two Williams drivers qualified alongside each other on the second row.

"Good luck, I thought," said Jones.

"He was off my Christmas card list. In my eyes we just weren't teammates. It was every man for himself."

The pair avoided any aggravation in Argentina, with Reutemann finishing second and Jones fourth, but had a coming together at the next race at Imola.

"Carlos didn't like me challenging him and we hit – one of the race reports at the time said he had 'driven into' me, so you can read into that what you like," Jones explained.

It was the start of a frustrating period for Jones, who finished out of the points in six of seven races, with only a second place at Monaco to show for his efforts.

With his championship defence derailed, disillusionment with the sport was rising for Jones, who decided to retire at the end of the 1981 season.

The Australian was out of contention for the championship when the teams arrived in Las Vegas for the final race of the season, with Reutemann one point in front of Nelson Piquet in the title race. The Argentinian simply had to finish in front of Piquet to be crowned champion, although assistance from his teammate wouldn't be forthcoming.

"I didn't need to remind him I was not there to help him, I think the whole world knew that at the time," Jones said.

The two Williams drivers locked out the front row, with Reutemann on pole, but that's when the mind games started, with Jones managing to get second spot on the grid switched to the more favourable side of the track.

"I thought I'd play with him. 'Have you seen where pole is? It's just a disgrace, there's s— everywhere, I don't know how you're going to get off the line.' It worked," Jones said.

Alan Jones (right) celebrates his win at the 1981 US Grand Prix in Long Beach, ahead of teammate Carlos Reutemann.

When Reutemann complained to Williams that there was a problem with the side of the road where pole would have started, Jones jumped in with some 'friendly' advice.

"I said, 'Well, you know the man who gets on pole can claim whichever side of the track he wants," Jones explained. Reutemann then complained to the organisers, who switched the positions, giving the Australian the more favourable side of the track.

"You could have done the worst start known to man, and still probably have led into the first corner if you started on the inside line, which I now had," Jones said.

"Of course, I out-dragged him into the first corner, as did (Gilles) Villeneuve, (Alain) Prost and (Bruno) Giacomelli. He was f—ed from there on in and he went backwards.

"I lapped him. In the end I did win. Easily. I lapped Carlos and probably laughed when I did so.

"He didn't deserve to win (the championship)."

With Piquet finishing fifth, Reutemann lost the world title by a single point.

Reutemann's career only lasted another two races. He retired suddenly in the 1982 season, returning to Argentina, where he later became the governor of the Sante Fe province, before serving nearly 18 years as a senator, a position he held until his death.

"It was kind of appropriate he became a politician, where his dishonesty could work for him," Jones finished.

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