Sammy Jones
Sammy Jones (born 7th December 1978 in Banbury, England) is a former British racing driver and son of former F1 driver, the late Harvey Jones. Sammy is primarily famous for his exploits within the F1 Rejects World Race Series, where in late 2010, he established the Jones Racing Group which would go on to run a successful team in the series, currently known as Castrol Jones Racing. Sammy achieved some success whilst driving for his team for the first five seasons of its existence, retiring from driving in late 2015, but found greater success earlier in his career whilst in Formula 1 where he made his debut in 1998. Having since retired from racing, Jones now concentrates on managing the Jones Racing Group's activities from its headquarters in Banbury.
Formula One
1998: Tyrrell
Jones was one of many British youngsters rising up through the ranks of motorsport in the late 1980s and 1990s, working his way through karting and Formula Ford, before landing himself a drive in British Formula 3 in 1997. His results were enough to attract the attention of the BAR-owned Tyrrell F1 team leading to him being placed on the team's books as a test driver, alongside Marc Goosens and Tom Coronel.
With Tyrrell's main driver Tom Kristensen forced to miss the Canadian Grand Prix to compete in Le Mans, Sammy Jones was handed his Formula One debut. He out-qualified team-mate Toranosuke Takagi, but after running solidly throughout the race retired near the end with puncture. Tom Kristensen would return at the next race in France, and although he would later go on to leave the team after the Hungarian Grand Prix, Jean Alesi would be called upon to fill the seat in place of Jones.
1999-2002: British American Racing
1999
The Tyrrell team became British American Racing for 1999, and promptly signed Williams refugee Jacques Villeneuve to lead the team's ambitious assault on both championships. Jones was selected to partner Villenevue in the team's debut campaign after impressing Craig Pollock during testing and his solitary race outing in 1998.
However, his season would not go as smoothly as the BAR press material would have you believe. Jones would only finish a paltry three races all year, having to wait until the 9th round of the season at the Austrian Grand Prix to finish his first race - in 9th position. He would go on to come home 14th in Japan and a 12th in Portugal, meaning the earlier 9th was his and the team's best finish all year.
2000
Jones would be retained alongside Villeneuve heading into the 2000 season. The first season of the new millennium proved to be a breakout year for both Jones and BAR, with the Englishman scoring his first points at Imola and then backing this up with three further top 6 finishes, including his and BAR's first podium at the 2000 Malaysian Grand Prix. As a result, Jones would finish a creditable 11th place in the Driver's Championship, a place (and four points) ahead of his world champion teammate.
2001
With offers from top teams not forthcoming, Jones remained at BAR for 2001 alongside Villeneuve, though with the latter no longer the clear team leader. Jones would continue to be a semi-regular points scorer - but it would be at the German Grand Prix where he'd take another step forward by winning his and BAR's first ever Grand Prix - albeit after James James Davies span on the final lap of the race. Jones finished the season in eighth place overall.
2002
Jones would again compete with BAR for a fourth consecutive season, but would have a new teammate in British rookie Justin Wilson, the team's former test driver, as new team management Prodrive deemed Villeneuve's 2001 performance not worthy of his somewhat extravagant salary. As the season began, it soon became clear that the BAR 004 chassis was a major step down from the previous year's, being unreliable and difficult to drive, resulting in numerous retirements throughout the season for both Jones and Wilson. The absence of race-winning speed or consistency in the team seemed to affect Jones the most within the team, his form going into a slump as the season continued, the only bright spot being a fourth-placed finish in Italy, being the only points scored all year by him. As a result, Jones would fall to 13th in the championship, his lowest position since 1999 and the first in which he had been beaten by a teammate, Wilson having scored six points and generally outraced him all year.
2003-2005: Jordan Grand Prix
2003
BAR's step backward in 2002 convinced Jones to leave the team which gave him his debut in lieu of fellow Honda-powered entrant Jordan for 2003, partnering with Japanese rising star Takuma Sato at the Irish team, signing a three-year contract worth $33 million. It would be another disappointing season for the Englishman, scoring only four points (and in positions which would not have scored them under the previous year's points system) with the consistently uncompetitive EJ13, which was lacking in both pace and reliability. Frequent mistakes by Jones also cost him and team dearly- the Michelin-boycotted Italian GP would have been a prime opportunity for the Bridgestone-shod Jordan team to score big points against close rivals BAR, but Jones' off in the race left them with only a single point gained from the weekend, scored by the inexperienced HWNSNBM, who was replacing an injured Sato. Jones would end the season in a poor 20th place (of 24) in the Driver's championship.
2004
Jones remained at Jordan for a second successive season, this time joined by Rubens Barrichello. Both he and Jordan were well off the pace, his best result in a shortened season being a ninth place in Canada.
2005
Jones' third year at Jordan saw another teammate join him - with India's first Formula One driver Narain Karthikeyan making his debut with the British team - replacing the McLaren bound Barrichello. Jones outperformed his rookie teammate in what would be Jordan's final season - the best result being fourth place in the controversial United States Grand Prix. Jones finished the season in fourteenth place.
2006-2009: McLaren
2006
With the sale of Jordan to Spyker, Jones switched to Woking and McLaren - whom had been looking for a British driver to fulfill sponsorship conditions. Jones scored his first win in five years when he took the flag at the Monaco Grand Prix - his only win of the season on his way to third in the World Driver's Championship.
2007
Jones saw himself be joined by defending World Champion James James Davies in 2007 - the outspoken Welshman joining on a bumper deal from rivals Ferrari. Jones managed two wins - in San Marino and Uruguay whilst his teammate Davie effectively ran away with the lead. Midway through the year, the Spygate scandal which implicated McLaren in a espionage case meant the team's strong performances were put under intense scrutiny. Jones was cleared of any wrongdoing at the September FIA court hearing but the resultant damage to his teammate's image saw Davies opt to retire from the sport after the Italian Grand Prix - relinquishing the lead to BMW Sauber's Daniel Melrose. Pedro de la Rosa saw out the year alongside Jones, who finished the season in fifth place.
2008
The 2008 McLaren package was looking to be particularly strong in pre-season testing and Jones was considered among the favourites for the 2008 crown. Joined by prodigious young Brit Lewis Hamilton, Jones opened the season in Bahrain with a one-two finish - which he followed up with a win in Malaysia. Jones and McLaren went into a brief slump in the early-to-mid season, but the team bounced back with five straight wins between Jones and Hamilton - Jones taking the flag in Germany, Hungary and Belgium. Despite this decent form, this would not be enough for Jones to take the title - with Daniel Melrose continuing his period of domination for a second year. Jones finished the season as runner up.
2009
Jones and Hamilton both continued with the Woking team in 2009, however McLaren had adapted poorly to the new technical regulations meaning the MP4-24 was not a competitive car. Although the team managed to develop the car throughout the season, Jones had his first winless year since 2005, only scoring 2 podiums at the European and British Grands Prix. At the end of the year Jones would leave Formula One, having become increasingly disillusioned with the FIA's management of the series.
F1RWRS Career: 2010-Present
Sammy was one of the original drivers in the F1 Rejects World Race Series, and has participated in every race bar 4, two of which came through a race ban during the 2012 season whilst the other two were the first two races of the 2013 season, which Sammy had originally opted to not participate, before reversing his decision in time for the third round at Mexico.
He is one of a number of drivers who run their own teams, and Jones Racing has been one of the most successful driver-managed teams in the history of the series.
2010: West Cliff Racing
Beginning his F1RWRS in its inaugural year, Sammy signed to drive with the British-based West Cliff Racing team alongside Manxman Douglas Mann. The year was largely a negative one for both drivers, particularly Mann, and whilst Jones picked up two podiums at the German and Saxon Grands Prix early in the year, there was very little else for either driver to be happy about. One of the main issues was the team's frequent bad calls on strategy, which often hampered the performances of the drivers who had got themselves into good positions on the track. The situation was so dire by the end of the year that neither driver stayed on with the team for 2011, with both going on to establish their own teams. For Sammy, this involved a partnership with Tex Pearson's RubberTex company, and having founded parent company, the Jones Racing Group to oversee his motorsport activities, the Englishman was the first driver to establish his own team within the series.
2011-present: Jones Racing
Sammy's team, RubberTex-Jones Racing, would have a somewhat difficult first year, despite signing F1 legend Chris Dagnall to partner Sammy himself in driving duties. Whilst Chris took the team's first win at Luxembourg, and a third place at the USA, Sammy could only manage a best result of 6th at the Dutch GP, and only scored once more in the points, and failed to pre-qualify a total of nine times, ending up 26th overall in the drivers' standings at the end of the year. It was a difficult year of balancing the running of the team alongside driving for it as well, something that was completely new to the Englishman, but with Dagnall's points haul Sammy's team finished 7th by the season's end. There was no doubt though that Jones was looking for a vast improvement in his fortunes for the 2012 season.
For 2012, Jones went in with a new focus, and with a year's experience of running a team behind him, the RubberTex-Jones team began to get into its stride, with both Chris and Sammy taking a win each at the British GP and Tasman GP respectively. Sammy's win was particularly special, being not only his first win in the series, but also followed on the back of a two race ban which he'd served following a very public spat with Phoenix McAllister and Barii Mori over a series of on-track incidents. Forced to sit out the Kent and English GPs, it deprived the team of vital chances to score more points, though Dagnall was going all out for the Drivers' Championship, and combined with Sammy's results, RubberTex-Jones Racing were in a prime position to clinch the Constructors' Championship too. In the end however, both Chris and the team finished runner-up in their respective championships, whilst Sammy finished his season a much-improved 11th overall. Having withdrawn his team in the face of the sweeping rule changes coming into force for 2013, Sammy took the offer of a one-off drive for Horizon Motorsport in the end-of-season non-championship Suzuka Charity Race which he won, to cap the season off somewhat on a high.
With the series undergoing a major rules change for 2013, Sammy initially decided against competing, and withdrew his team's entry, believing the series wouldn't last long under its new regulations. Having sat out the Tasman and Australian GPs however, he saw the success and potential with the series in its new guise and decided to re-form his team with Castrol backing, signing Kay Lon as the team's second driver, and entering the championship from the third round at Mexico onwards. Whilst Lon got off to an amazing start with the team, taking the win at Mexico and a second place at the next race in the USA, Sammy's was less spectacular, suffering from four retirements in the team's first six races. Despite that he still took victory in the Dutch GP, his second in his F1RWRS career, as well as podiums in Monaco and Belgium. It was comfortably his most successful season to date, despite the off-track antics and allegations surrounding his teammate Kay Lon, who was eventually fired by Sammy in the aftermath of the Chinese GP, replaced for the final two races by Daniel Melrose, another former F1 great.Jones went into the 2014 season, still as team owner and manager of Castrol Jones Racing and drove alongside Daniel Melrose, whom he'd signed on a one year deal to drive for the team at the close of 2013. Hoping to build on what was a fairly solid year, Sammy was looking for more race wins and podiums from himself and the team as well, something which Melrose achieved in the two races of the year, finishing in third place at the Tasman and Australian GPs. Having had two fairly mediocre races, Sammy finally scored his first points of the year with a 5th place at Brazil. His third career win in the F1RWRS came at the sixth race of the year at Monaco in a high attrition race that was heavily influenced by the very wet weather at the time. The Englishman's 60th race and 50th start were both at the British Grand Prix, where in wet conditions once more Sammy battled through and looked on course for points before a late race pass by Mirko Bosevic dropped him to 7th place. Two straight retirements followed, before Sammy surpassed 100 points in his F1RWRS career with a 4th place finish at Monza, joining an elite group of drivers to achieve that feat.
Career Results
Complete F1RWRS Results
Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | DC | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2010 | West Cliff Racing | West Cliff WC001 | Chevrolet V8 | GER 3 |
LUX 11 |
SAX 3 |
CHN 13 |
TAS 6 |
BHR 9 |
BEL Ret |
GBR 18 |
AUS 14 |
10th | 23 | |||||||
2011 | RubberTex-Jones Racing Team | Jones 100 | Renault RS9000T-11 | BAV DNPQ |
GER DNPQ |
SAX 10 |
LUX Ret |
BEL Ret |
GBR DNPQ |
ENG DNPQ |
KEN DNPQ |
NED 6 |
TAS DNPQ |
AUS 8 |
NSW DNPQ |
SUR Ret |
CHN DNPQ |
USA DNPQ |
26th | 4 | |
2012 | RubberTex-Jones Racing Team | Jones 101 | Renault RS9000T-12 | BAV Ret |
SAX 10 |
GER 6 |
LUX 7 |
BEL Ret |
NED 7 |
GBR Ret |
KEN EX |
ENG EX |
TAS 1 |
SUR 4 |
NSW 14 |
AUS Ret |
CHN 4 |
USA 8 |
500 17 |
11th | 34 |
2013 | Castrol Jones Racing | Jones 102B | Ford HBD VI | TAS | AUS | MEX Ret |
USA Ret |
MON 3† |
FRA DNPQ |
GBR Ret |
GER Ret |
NED 1 |
BEL 2 |
POR 4 |
MED 11† |
MAC 7† |
CHN Ret |
JPN 4 |
BRA Ret |
6th | 25 |
2014 | Castrol Jones Racing | Jones 103 | Ford HBD VI Ford HBD VI-2 |
TAS 9 |
AUS 10 |
BRA 5 |
MEX Ret |
USA 7 |
MON 1 |
FRA Ret |
GBR 7 |
GER Ret |
BEL Ret |
ITA 4 |
MED 4 |
NED 4 |
MAC Ret |
CHN 6 |
JPN Ret |
8th | 22 |
2015 | Castrol Jones Racing | Jones 105 | Ford Zetec XR8A | TAS 3 |
AUS 4 |
MED 9 |
MON 11 |
MEX 7 |
USA 4 |
CAN 3 |
GBR Ret |
GER 7 |
BEL 10 |
AUT Ret |
ITA 2 |
NED | CHN | JPN | BRA | 7th | 20 |
- † Driver did not finish the Grand Prix, but was classified as they completed over 90% of the race distance.
Formula 1 Results
Year | Team | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | WDC | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1998 | PIAA Tyrrell | Tyrrell 026 | Ford VJ Zetec-R 3.0 V10 | AUS | BRA | ARG | SMR | ESP | MON | CAN Ret |
FRA | GBR | AUT | GER | HUN | BEL | ITA | JPN | POR | 26th | 0 | ||||
1999 | British American Racing | BAR 001 | Supertec FB01 3.0 V10 | AUS Ret |
BRA Ret |
SMR Ret |
ESP Ret |
MON Ret |
CAN Ret |
FRA Ret |
GBR Ret |
AUT 9 |
GER Ret |
HUN Ret |
BEL Ret |
ITA Ret |
JPN 14 |
USA Ret |
POR 12 |
19th | 0 | ||||
2000 | British American Racing | BAR 002 | Honda RA000E 3.0 V10 | AUS Ret |
BRA Ret |
SMR 5 |
FRA 16 |
ESP 4 |
EUR Ret |
MON Ret |
CAN 7 |
GBR 10 |
AUT Ret |
GER Ret |
HUN Ret |
BEL 6 |
ITA Ret |
JPN Ret |
MAL 3 |
USA 8 |
POR Ret |
11th | 10 | ||
2001 | Lucky Strike BAR Honda | BAR 003 | Honda RA001E 3.0 V10 | AUS 5 |
MAL Ret |
BRA 9 |
SMR 5 |
ESP 6 |
AUT Ret |
MON 9 |
CAN Ret |
EUR 12 |
FRA Ret |
GBR Ret |
GER 1 |
HUN 7 |
BEL 7 |
ITA 11 |
USA 4 |
JPN 7 |
8th | 18 | |||
2002 | Lucky Strike BAR Honda | BAR 004 | Honda RA002E 3.0 V10 | AUS 18† |
MAL Ret |
SMR Ret |
ESP Ret |
AUT 9 |
MON 8 |
CAN 12 |
EUR Ret |
FRA Ret |
GBR 8 |
GER Ret |
HUN 12† |
BEL Ret |
ITA 4 |
BRA Ret |
USA 10 |
JPN 9 |
13th | 3 | |||
2003 | Jordan Honda | Jordan EJ13 | Honda RA003E 3.0 V10 | AUS 11 |
MAL Ret |
SMR Ret |
ESP 8 |
AUT 10 |
MON 7 |
CAN Ret |
GBR 10 |
EUR 9 |
GER 9 |
HUN 10 |
ITA Ret |
BEL Ret |
BRA Ret |
USA 8 |
JPN 9 |
20th | 4 | ||||
2004 | Jordan Grand Prix | Jordan EJ14 | Mercedes FO110Q 3.0 V10 | AUS 14 |
MAL Ret |
BHR 14† |
MON 10 |
CAN 9 |
USA 14 |
CHN Ret |
BRA 13 |
ARG 10 |
KOR C |
JPN Ret |
19th | 0 | |||||||||
2005 | Jordan Grand Prix | Jordan EJ15 | Toyota RVX-05 3.0 V10 | AUS 17 |
MAL Ret |
BHR 14 |
SMR 11 |
ESP 13 |
MON 8 |
EUR 14 |
CAN 10 |
USA 4 |
FRA 11 |
GBR 8 |
GER 13 |
HUN 11 |
TUR 17 |
ITA 7 |
BEL 11 |
BRA 13 |
URU 11 |
JPN 11 |
CHN 12 |
14th | 9 |
2006 | Team McLaren Mercedes | McLaren MP4-21 | Mercedes FO 108S 2.4 V8 | BHR 2 |
MAL 3 |
AUS Ret |
BEL 6 |
EUR 2 |
SMR 6 |
MON 1 |
ESP 4 |
GBR Ret |
CAN Ret |
USA 10 |
FRA 14† |
GER 2 |
HUN 5 |
TUR 5 |
ITA 11 |
BRA Ret |
URU Ret |
JPN 3 |
CHN 2 |
3rd | 73 |
2007 | Vodafone McLaren Mercedes | McLaren MP4-22 | Mercedes FO108T 2.4 V8 | BHR 4 |
MAL 4 |
AUS 3 |
JPN 2 |
SMR 1 |
GER Ret |
ESP 6 |
MON 2 |
CAN 7 |
USA 4 |
GBR Ret |
EUR 3 |
FRA 10 |
HUN 3 |
TUR Ret |
ITA 2 |
BEL 6 |
CHN 6 |
URU 1 |
BRA 3 |
5th | 94 |
2008 | Vodafone McLaren Mercedes | McLaren MP4-23 | Mercedes FO 108V 2.4 V8 | BHR 1 |
MAL 1 |
AUS 17 |
JPN 8 |
TUR 6 |
EUR 4 |
MON 2 |
CAN 4 |
USA Ret |
FRA 2 |
GBR 2 |
GER 1 |
HUN 1 |
ESP 2 |
BEL 1 |
ITA Ret |
SIN Ret |
CHN 5 |
URU 6 |
BRA 3 |
2nd | 117 |
2009 | Vodafone McLaren Mercedes | McLaren MP4-24 | Mercedes FO 108W 2.4 V8 | BHR Ret |
AUS 12 |
MAL‡ Ret |
USA 4 |
JPN 4 |
ESP 7 |
TUR 12 |
EUR 2 |
MON 8 |
GBR 2 |
IRE Ret |
GER Ret |
BEL 7 |
ITA 6 |
HUN 11 |
SIN 7 |
CHN Ret |
BRA Ret |
URU 12 |
ABU 7 |
10th | 38 |