Just a week after Felipe Massa pulled out of the Hungarian Grand Prix after feeling unwell, 1980 world champion Alan Jones has revealed how Bernie Ecclestone once instructed him to 'pull a sickie' in an attempt to avoid a political row. The year was 1985, the event was the South African Grand Prix. Jones, now in the latter stages of a career which had seen one title (1980) a brace of thirds (1979 and 1981) and twelve wins, was racing for the Haas-Lola team... no relation to the current contenders. At the time, the American outfit was sponsored by Beatrice, a company founded in 1894, which started off producing butter and went on to become a global corporation, diversifying into many...
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