R.I.P JULES BIANCHI
Sadly 25-year-old French F1 driver Jules Bianchi passed away on 17th July.
Unfortunately he succumbed to injuries sustained in that horrific crash in the Japanese GP on October 5th 2014.
On an extremely wet surface, he lost control of his Marussia car and collided into a tractor at the side of the Suzuka circuit. Which was in the process of removing Adrian Sutil’s Sauber car, that had spun off in the same area a lap before.
Bianchi was known as a very promising young driver who worked his way up from karting, Formula Renault 2.0, Formula Three and the GP2 series. To being a test driver in 2011 for Ferrari and for Force India the following season, while still racing in Formula Renault 3.5.
He competed in 34 F1 races between the 2013 and 2014 seasons and finished 9th at the 2014 Monaco GP, scoring Marussia’s first ever championship points.
It was also reported that the Ferrari president stated if Formula 1 ever switched to three cars per team, Bianchi would be their third driver.
The Bianchi name is actually well known in motor sport. He’s the grandson of Mauro Bianchi, a three-time World Champion in the GT category. He’s also the grandnephew of Lucien Bianchi who won the 1968 24 hours of Le Mans and competed in Formula One between 1959 and 1968.
Ironically, Lucien also tragically lost his life in a car crash. In 1969 during testing at the Le Mans race track, his car crashed into a pole at high-speed.
With big boots to fill and the family name to live up to, Jules embarked on his journey to F1. By the time he made it to Marussia (now called Manor) he was tipped as a certain future star of Ferreri.
With that type of pull behind him, along with the famous family name, the good looks, the F1 money and beautiful girlfriend on his arm. He surprisingly, was a very humble guy with not a scent of an ego.
You can tell he was much-loved in the sport with scores of messages from current and former drivers, as well as other sports stars around the world showing their respect.
It really is sad that F1 has lost such a talent who will never get to fulfill his true potential in the sport. I got the feeling he was a flower at the very beginning stage of blooming. I had seen one or two glimpses of his superb maneuvering and pace, and you couldn’t help but notice how he was getting the absolute most from his Marussia car. I was really eager and looking forward to seeing what he would do at Ferrari in the future. But it’s not to be.
Sadly this will again raise safety concerns about F1. Though Bianchi’s crash tragically took his life, it was the first death in a F1 race since the great Ayrton Senna lost his life in Italy in 1994.
The findings of Bianchi’s crash where it stated he used both feet “thus over-riding the failsafe mechanism” did prompt F1 to alter its rules, allowing a “virtual safety car” in which race stewards can neutralise a race, forcing all cars to proceed slowly into the pit lane.
Although I doubt that would have made a difference in Bianchi’s case and the fact of the matter is, with the type of speeds these machines can travel. Human error is always possible and F1 have done wonders to unsure the safety of drivers over the years. Unfortunately somethings are just out of your hands as an organiser or a governing body.
Bianchi had been in a coma for 9 months and there was hope of some kind of recovery in the early stages. But as the months progressed with no signs or no change, realisation started to set in. Jules Bianchi died at the “Centre Hospitalier Universitaire” in his home town of Nice. He had been there since receiving emergency treatment in Japan following the accident.
He had suffered a diffuse axonal injury which is one of the most common in serious car accidents but traumatic of brain injuries.
His family released a statement saying “Jules fought right to the very end, as he always did, but today his battle came to an end”
