Alphabetical F1 - A 'J' at the Races Quiz

Answer: Williams

Alan Jones began his F1 career in 1975 when he made his debut in a privately entered Hesketh car at the Spanish Grand Prix - a race marred by an accident involving Rolf Stommelen that resulted in the deaths of five spectators. Jones only raced the Hesketh for four races, before switching to Graham Hill's racing team, acting as a replacement for the injured Stommelen. He got his first full-time drive with Surtees in 1976, before switching again to Shadow in 1977 (where he achieved his first grand prix victory) and then Williams in 1978. While his first season with Williams was relatively unsuccessful, he took four wins for them in 1979 on the way to 3rd place in the drivers' championship and then claimed the title in 1980 thanks to five race wins and a further five podium finishes. Jones's efforts, along with those of his teammate Carlos Reutemann, helped Williams to their inaugural constructors' title.

Jones and Williams made a good start to defending their titles in 1981, with victory at Jones' home race in Australia, but he failed to win again until the very last race of the season and ended up 3rd in the drivers' standings as a result. Jones retired from the sport at the end of the 1981 season, although he later made an unsuccessful comeback in 1986 with the Haas team (following a handful of races for both Arrows and Haas in 1983 and 1985 respectively). Williams meanwhile went on to win a further eight constructors' titles in the 20th century.

Ligier, Brabham and Renault finished 2nd, 3rd and 4th in the constructors' standings in 1980.

Answer: 1976

The first F1 Japanese Grand Prix took place in October 1976 at the Fuji Speedway circuit. It was the last race of the 1976 season and the scene of the dramatic end to that season's championship battle between James Hunt and Niki Lauda (who had suffered terrible burn injuries earlier in the year). The weather played a major part in the outcome, when heavy rain left the race in doubt and a number of drivers - including Lauda - withdrew from the race citing safety concerns. Hunt continued however and his third-place finish was sufficient to snatch the title win from Lauda by just 1 point. The story of the season, including the pivotal scenes at the Japanese Grand Prix, was later told in the 2013 film 'Rush'.

The Japanese Grand Prix at Fuji was also the final race of 1977 but instead of hosting an exciting championship decider, it was the scene of a horrific accident involving Gilles Villeneuve that resulted in the death of a marshal and a trackside photographer. The planned event for 1978 was cancelled and the Japanese Grand Prix did not reappear on the F1 calendar until 1987, when it moved to the Suzuka circuit.

The first race to hold the title of 'Japanese Grand Prix' was actually held in 1963, but this was a sports car race and not part of the F1 championship.

Answer: Damon Hill

Jordan Grand Prix were founded in 1991 by their flamboyant team boss, Eddie Jordan, and had some immediate success in the form of a few points finishes in their debut season. That season also saw a rookie named Michael Schumacher drive for them at the Belgian Grand Prix and then immediately get poached by their rivals, Benetton. After a couple of difficult seasons in 1992 and 1993, the team started to produce more consistent results and Brazilian driver Rubens Barrichello claimed their first podium finish at the 1994 Pacific Grand Prix. The yellow livery famously associated with Jordan F1 cars first appeared in 1996 following a sponsorship tie up with cigarette brand Benson and Hedges.

Their first victory came at the 1998 Belgian Grand Prix when former world champion Damon Hill came through to win a chaotic rain-affected race, with his team-mate Ralf Schumacher less than a second behind him. The team had their most successful season the following year, after two wins for Heinz-Harald Frentzen helped them to third place in the constructors' championship. However, a long-term decline then set in (punctuated by a fortuitous win for Giancarlo Fisichella at the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix) and the team were eventually sold in 2005.

Answer: Jeddah Waterfront

The Jeddah Corniche or Jeddah Waterfront is a tourist resort area of the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah. Located on part of the city's Red Sea coastline, it was first opened in 2017 and features hotels, restaurants, entertainment venues, shops and gardens in addition to some of its streets forming part of the Jeddah Corniche racetrack. The circuit's layout for F1 grands prix is just over 3.8 miles (6.2 km) and runs anti-clockwise in a thin strip along the seafront. The circuit has also hosted other racing series, including Formula E, Formula 2 and the World Touring Car Cup - some of which took place on slightly altered or shorter routes around the area. The circuit is one of the fastest street circuits on the F1 calendar.

The first driver to win a F1 race at the Jeddah Corniche circuit was Lewis Hamilton, who claimed the win in 2021 to move level on points with championship leader Max Verstappen. The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was the penultimate race of the season that year and the next race in Abu Dhabi controversially settled the battle in Verstappen's favour.

Answer: Jean-Pierre Jabouille

Jean-Pierre Jarier raced in F1 for 13 seasons between 1971 and 1983, but he was only joined by Jean-Pierre Jabouille for the period 1974 to 1975 (during which time Jabouille only entered three races) and 1977 to 1981. However, despite Jarier's longer F1 career, it was Jabouille who was arguably more successful, as he took victories at both the 1979 French Grand Prix and the 1980 Austrian Grand Prix.

Jean-Pierre Jabouille is also a rare example of a driver whose only appearances on the podium were for race wins. Aside from his two victories, he actually had only one other points-scoring finish in his entire F1 career and was never a world championship contender. He drove for the Renault team from the latter part of 1977 until 1980 and a lack of reliability, combined with some bad luck, meant that he retired from 34 (76%) of the 45 races he started for them. He suffered serious leg injuries in a crash at the 1980 Canadian Grand Prix that ultimately led to his retirement from the sport a few races into the 1981 season, after it became clear that he was struggling to compete.

By contrast Jean-Pierre Jarier's F1 career yielded only a best result of 3rd place. He achieved this three times - the 1974 Monaco Grand Prix (with Shadow), the 1979 South African Grand Prix and the 1979 British Grand Prix (both with Tyrrell).

Answer: Nelson Piquet

The Autodromo de Jacarepagua was built in the 1970s in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro and hosted its first Brazilian Grand Prix in January 1978. The race returned to the Interlagos circuit in Sao Paulo for the 1979 and 1980 editions of the race, before moving back to Jacarepagua for the remainder of the 1980s. The winners of the ten grands prix held at the circuit were Carlos Reutemann (1978, 1981), Alain Prost (1982, 1984-5, 1987-8), Nigel Mansell (1989) and Brazilian three-time world champion Nelson Piquet (1983, 1986). It was after Piquet sealed his third world championship title in 1987 that the circuit was renamed in his honour as the Autodromo Internacional Nelson Piquet.

The Brazilian Grand Prix returned to Interlagos in 1990 after that circuit had been redeveloped to address safety concerns. Jacarepagua continued as a host of other motor racing events such as the Rio de Janeiro motorcycle Grand Prix, the Stock Car Brasil series and F3 Sudamericana. It closed in 2012 and was demolished to make way for facilities for the 2016 Olympic Games.

An alternative layout of the Jacarepagua circuit used for CART races between 1996 and 2000 was named the Emerson Fittipaldi Speedway. Several Brazilian racetracks, including the Autodromo Internacional Ayrton Senna in Goiania, which hosted the 2026 Brazilian motorcycle Grand Prix, are named after Ayrton Senna. Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace is the official name of the Interlagos circuit.

Answer: Red Bull Racing

Jaguar Racing entered F1 in 2000 when Ford bought Stewart Grand Prix - a team founded in 1997 by former triple F1 champion Sir Jackie Stewart and his son, Paul - and renamed it after one of the car brands they owned at that time. Stewart had won the 1999 Austrian Grand Prix, but Jaguar Racing were unable to match that level of success across their five seasons in the sport. Their best race results were a couple of third-place finishes for Eddie Irvine at the 2001 Monaco Grand Prix and the 2002 Italian Grand Prix, while they never finished higher than 7th in the constructors' championship. As a result of the lack of sporting success, Ford sold the team to Red Bull - a company that had previously had significant involvement in the sport through sponsoring other teams and drivers.

The newly renamed Red Bull Racing did not initially have much more success than they did as Jaguar, but as Red Bull investment in the team began to pay off, they recorded their first podium finish in 2006 (David Coulthard at the Monaco Grand Prix) and their first win in 2009 (Sebastian Vettel at the Bahrain Grand Prix). They were genuine championship contenders in 2009; won four consecutive constructors' and drivers' championships with Vettel between 2010 and 2013; and in the 2020s went on to win multiple championships with Max Verstappen.

BAR joined the F1 grid in 1999 having bought the Tyrrell team; Toyota Racing were a brand-new team that first raced in F1 in 2002; and Toro Rosso was the name given to the former Minardi team in 2006 after they were also purchased by Red Bull.

Answer: Aguri Suzuki

Aguri Suzuki raced in F1 between 1988 and 1995 and became the first Japanese driver to finish on an F1 podium in 1990 when he finished third at the Japanese Grand Prix for Larrousse. It also proved to be the only podium finish of both his career and that of the Larrousse team. The race itself was more famous for the first-corner collision between championship protagonists Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, which resulted in the retirement of both drivers and the championship being decided in Senna's favour. Suzuki's third place was an unexpected success as he had qualified in 10th place and his previous best results of the year had been two 6th-place finishes.

Suzuki had only two further points-scoring finishes in his driving career in F1 but later made a comeback as the founder of the Super Aguri F1 team, which raced from 2006 to 2008 with a best result of 6th place at the 2007 Canadian Grand Prix.

Takuma Sato and Kamui Kobayashi scored Japan's second and third podium finishes respectively (also 3rd places), while Satoru Nakajima was the first Japanese driver to achieve a point-scoring finish in F1 (for 6th place at the 1987 San Marino Grand Prix).

Answer: 1997

In 1997 the European Grand Prix at Jerez was the final race of the season. Michael Schumacher went into the race in the lead of the F1 World Drivers' Championship, with a one-point advantage over Jacques Villeneuve. Qualifying for the race was incredibly close; three drivers (Villeneuve, Schumacher and Heinz-Harald Frentzen) all set identical times and Villeneuve claimed pole position by virtue of having set his time first. However, Schumacher took the lead at the start and maintained it for most of the first two-thirds of the race, although it remained close. Villeneuve made an overtaking move on Schumacher on lap 48 of 69, but as he slipped through on the inside, Schumacher turned his car into Villeneuve's in what looked like an attempt to take them both out of the race. Schumacher was indeed forced to retire his Ferrari, but despite suffering damage, Villeneuve's Williams was able to continue and he eventually made it to the end of the race in third place - enough to win the title by three points. Despite being deemed a racing incident by the stewards, after the event Schumacher was disqualified from the championship (and ordered to take part in a road safety campaign) by the sport's governing body, the FIA, as a direct penalty for the crash.

With the exception of the first F1 race at Jerez, which was the second race on the 1986 F1 calendar, the other grands prix held at Jerez during the 1980s and 1990s were towards the end of the season but were not actually the final race. The Australian Grand Prix was the final race of every season from 1985 to 1995.

Answer: Jackie Stewart

Sir Jackie Stewart won three F1 drivers' world championships in 1969, 1971 and 1973 and a total of 27 races over the course of his nine seasons competing in the sport. His first win came at the 1965 Italian Grand Prix in his rookie season, when he led home a one-two finish for the BRM team in a race remembered for setting a record for the most times the lead of it had changed hands (42). His final victory was at the 1973 German Grand Prix and was also a one-two finish, but this time for the Tyrrell team. He retired from the sport one race earlier than planned, following the death of his Tyrrell team-mate, Francois Cevert, in qualifying for the 1973 United States Grand Prix. In addition to setting a record for most race wins that stood until Alain Prost surpassed it in 1987, Stewart is recognised for having been an outspoken advocate for improving the safety of both F1 and motor racing in general.

Jim Clark won 25 grands prix and two world championship titles before his life and career were cut short by a fatal accident at the Hockenheimring in 1968. Juan Manuel Fangio won 24 races and five world championships between 1950 and 1957. Jenson Button won the 2009 drivers' championship and a total of 15 of the 306 races he started between 2000 and 2017. The other 'J' champions (and the number of F1 races they won) were Jack Brabham (14), Jacques Villeneuve (11), James Hunt (10), Jody Scheckter (10), John Surtees (6) and Jochen Rindt (6).