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Jules Bianchi The latest Formula 1 news related to former Marussia F1 driver Jules Bianchi.

Jules Lucien André Bianchi was a French racing driver. Bianchi competed in Formula 1 for Marussia. Jules was a second cousin of former F1 driver Lucien Bianchi. In addition, he was the godfather of Formula 1 driver Charles Leclerc.

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Jules Bianchi was a French Formula One driver, born on 3 August 1989 in Nice, France. He was the grandson of Mauro Bianchi, a former racing driver and winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Jules began his career in karting and at a young age moved up to the single-seater racing classes. He was soon noticed by the Ferrari Driver Academy programme and in 2010 he joined their junior team.

Early career and Formula 3

Jules Bianchi made his motorsport debut in 2007 in French Formula Renault 2.0. He took his first victory in 2008 and finished second in the championship that season. In 2009, he moved to the Formula 3 Euroseries, where he drove for the team ART Grand Prix. He finished third in the championship that season and also won the Masters of Formula 3 race at Zandvoort. In addition, he tested for Ferrari at the Jerez circuit in Spain that year.

GP2 and test driver

In 2010, Bianchi made the switch to the GP2 Series, where he drove for the ART Grand Prix team. He won his first race in GP2 at Silverstone in 2011 and finished third in the championship that season. He continued racing in GP2 until 2012, after which he was appointed test driver with Force India's Formula 1 team.

Marussia F1 Team

Bianchi made his Formula 1 debut in 2013 with the Marussia F1 Team. He scored his first points in Formula 1 with a ninth-place finish at the 2014 Monaco Grand Prix. During the 2014 season, Bianchi's talent surfaced more and more. That made several F1 teams express interest in securing the Frenchman for the 2015 F1 season. Bianchi was strongly in Ferrari's sights, partly because of Kimi Raikkönen's disappointing results alongside Fernando Alonso. However, the then Marussia driver decided to let it all wash over him.

2014 Japanese Grand Prix

Bianchi's career came to an abrupt end when he suffered a serious head injury in a crash at the Japan Grand Prix that same year. The race was marked by heavy rain, which meant the race started behind the safety car. Nico Rosberg drove in front, but led the field towards the pit lane after only two laps due to the heavy rain. A while later, the race still started and all hell broke loose on lap ten. Bianchi started the race from seventeenth place.

Tragic accident

In the middle of the race, Adrian Sutil lost his car at turn seven (Dunlop corner), leading to a double yellow flag. As a crane hoisted Sutil's car away on the wet Suzuka Circuit, Bianchi lost control of his Marussia. This happened on the 41st lap of the race. Bianchi slid off the track and collided with the crane truck. The Frenchman was taken away unconscious by ambulance and the race was stopped.

Passing

After his accident, the French driver fell into a coma and did not regain consciousness. A CT scan showed that he had suffered a severe head injury. He died nine months later as a result. Bianchi was the first driver since Ayrton Senna in 1994 to die as a result of a crash during a Formula One race. As a mark of respect, his starting number - 17 - was decommissioned by Formula One management. Annually, the sport commemorates Bianchi's death during the Japan Grand Prix.

Crash Jules Bianchi leads to innovation within the sport

After no less than 20 years without fatal crashes in the sport, it was revealed in 2014 that Formula One was still not safe enough. This led the FIA to sort things out and start improving/implementing various safety measures. These included various rules regarding yellow flags, safety cars, helmets and more. They also introduced the virtual safety car and started designing the halo. The virtual safety car was first used during Max Verstappen's crash with Romain Grosjean in Monaco (2015). The halo made its appearance in the sport in 2018 and has since proved invaluable. For example, the product saved Romain Grosjean's life at the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix and also reduced the impact of crashes Fernando Alonso (Belgium, 2018) and Zhou Guanyu (Silverstone 2022).

Legacy and recognition

Bianchi's tragic death had a profound impact on the Formula 1 community and the sport as a whole. His legacy was honoured with numerous tributes, including the establishment of the Jules Bianchi Society, an organisation dedicated to improving safety in motorsport. In 2015, he was posthumously named the most talented driver of the year at the Autosport Awards. Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc also regularly comments on his former godfather in the media.

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