Jules Bianchi will forever have a legacy in Formula 1. Jules was an extremely talented driver whose career was cut short by a fatal accident in 2014. This accident was followed by a number of steps taken by the FIA to increase drivers’ safety in Formula 1.
Jules Bianchi was the godfather of now-F1 star, Charles Leclerc. Charles grew up admiring his godfather Jules Bianchi. Jules was Charles’s role model growing up. He even helped Charles is acquiring money to fund his racing career.
Jules Bianchi is one of those rare talents that come once every couple of years. He was one of the main prospects to join Ferrari in 2015. After the 2014 season, Fernando Alonso was leaving Ferrari, so Jules was speculated to replace Alonso for the Italian Manufacturer.
Jules Bianchi’s junior racing career
Having grown up around a karting track owned by his father, Jules expressed an interest in racing when he was a toddler. His Grandfather raced in GT racing through the 1960s. Bianchi made his move from karting to open-wheel racing in 2007. He joined the SG Formula team in the Formula Renault 2.0 Championship. During his first year, he won the Championship.
Soon after this, he joined ART Grand Prix, for the 2008 Formula 3 Euro series. During this time, he drove alongside Valtteri Bottas, Nico Hulkenberg, and Esteban Gutierrez who would go on to drive in Formula 1. Jules Bianchi finished the championship in 3rd place behind Nico Hulkenberg and Eduardo Moartara.
In 2009, he would go on to win the series finishing ahead of Valtteri Bottas who finished in 3rd place. This Championship would draw interest from Ferrari. His manager at the time was Nicholas Todt, who was the son of Jean Todt, the former Ferrari team principal. At the time, Ferrari had just started their new Drivers Academy. Jules Bianchi was able to use the connections of his manager to become the first driver ever to be a part of the Ferrari Driver Academy.
As a part of the Ferrari Driver Academy, Jules Bianchi drove in the GP2 series (now known as Formula 2) in 2010 and 2011. Jules finished in 3rd place during both these years. These results would see him make the leap to Formula 1 for the 2012 season.
Jules Bianchi enters Formula 1
From 2009 to 2012, Jules served as a test and reserve driver for Ferrari. During this time he also played a reserve driver role for Force India as well. During the 2012 Formula 1 season, Jules participated in a number of free practice sessions on Fridays.
Back in the early 2010s, Formula 1 had a total of 12 teams. A part of these 12 teams was the Marussia F1 team. The team procured its power unit from Ferrari. Hence Ferrari wanted Jules Bianchi to be a part of the Marussia Formula 1 team.
Jules Bianchi made his Formula 1 Grand Prix debut in 2013 with the Marussia F1 Team. Marussia was not a very good team in the sport. They were among the bottom 2 in 2012. Jules Bianchi’s 1 Formula 1 season saw him finish ahead of his teammate in the majority of the Grand Prix. He finished 19th in a grid of 22 drivers.
His stint with Marussia was never supposed to see too many results. The main purpose of the stint was to gain some experience in Fomrula 1 before moving on to Ferrari. Ferrari had always wanted to have Jules as one of their drivers.
During the 2014 season, Jules scored his first points in Formula 1 during the 2014 Monaco Grand Prix. This was an impressive result given the car he was driving and the complexity of the track. Unfortunately, the fatal accident later that year would not see him score any more points in Formula 1.
What happened to Jules Bianchi on 5th October 2014?
The 2014 Japanese Grand Prix was hosted on 5th October 2014. The Grand Prix was hosted on the days that Typhoon Phanfoe affected the track. The typhoon caused heavy winds and rainfall during the Japanese Grand Prix.
The race started behind the safety car. The safety car was out during the first 2 laps and on lap 3, the session was red-flagged due to heavy rain. Although the race did restart after a while, the track was still wet.
On lap 43, as the track was getting wetter, Adrian Sutil who was driving the Sauber car lost control of the rear of the car and hit the walls going into turn 7. Since the accident had happened right next to a Marshall’s post, the race director did not see the need to bring out the safety car. So there were just double-waved yellows while the marshalls tried to recover the car.
A couple of laps later, the safety car and the medical car were released at the same time which led viewers to think that Sutil or a race marshall was injured. But as it turned out, during the double-waved yellows, Jules Bianchi had lost control of the car in the same spot Sutil had crashed. Jules Bianchi’s Marussia skid towards the tractor recovering Sutil’s car and crashed it.
The accident was not caught on the live feed, so no one realized that the accident had taken place. After the medical car had reached the spot, the commentators recognized some debris from Jules Bianchi’s Marussia car next to the Sauber of Adrian Sutil. This was the moment that everyone realized that Jules Bianchi was involved in an accident. The race was then red-flagged and not restarted.
Jules was taken to the hospital and was put into a coma after his surgery. Bianchi has suffered a severe injury to his head. After the surgery, Jules remained in critical but stable condition. Later that year in November, Jules was taken out of the coma but remained unconscious. However, this allowed him to relocate to be closer to his home.
On July 17th, 2015, Jules Bianchi passed away in his hometown, Nice in France. He battled his injuries for 9 months after the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix. Unfortunately, he was not able to continue for any longer.
Jules Bianchi’s legacy
After Ayrton Senna, Jules Bianchi was the first Formula 1 driver to lose his life due to an accident during a Grand Prix. Bianchi’s accident took place months after the skiing accident of Michael Schumacher. This accident brought on some bad memories to the fans.
After the 2014 season, the FIA introduced the Virtual Safety Car (VSC). This would compel the drivers to slow down when an accident takes place. A few more years later, FIA introduced the life-saving Halo. The Halo is the device around the cockpit protecting the drivers from flying debris.
The Halo was introduced in 2018. Since then, it has saved countless lives including Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Romain Grosjean, and even Jules Bianchi’s godson, Charles Leclerc. These are just a few names among hundreds. The Halo was introduced not only in Formula 1 but in all single-seat racing Championships. Although the Halo was not liked by a lot of fans and even teams when it was introduced, there is no doubt that the Halo has proved its worth in motorsport.
After his crash in Suzuka, the Marussia team ran only 1 car for the Russian Grand Prix. This was done as a statement of respect towards Jules Bianchi. Following Jules Bianchi’s death, Formula 1 drivers came together before the Hungarian Grand Prix where they shared a minute’s silence for Jules. All the drivers ran #JB17 on their cars for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The funeral was attended by a number of Formula 1 drivers including Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, Felipe Massa, and more. Romain Grosjean and Sebastian Vettel helped carry the coffin during the funeral. Lewis Hamilton described the day as “a sad, sad day”
Jules Bianchi will always have a legacy in Formula 1. Every time we look at the Halo, it is a reminder of the life of Jules Bianchi and the lives he has saved.