This is
possibly one of the most difficult and emotional things I've ever written, but
it is only fitting that I do an entry on Jules Bianchi, who tragically lost his
life last Friday after a nine month battle with serve head injuries sustained
at the Japanese GP in October last year. Tributes have been flooding in all
weekend from drivers past and present to express their grief at the loss of a
friend, colleague and a true racing talent. It had been 21 years since Formula
1 had a death due to a racing accident, and this tragedy has reopened the huge
debate about safety in the sport. There is no doubt that the sport is as safe
today as it ever has been, but this accident has highlighted that there will
always be an element of danger in F1. This entry is will have a look at his too
short racing career and what could have been for the young Frenchman.
Jules' family
name oozes motorsport history, with his uncle Lucien winning the Le Man 24
Hours race in 1968, and also making 17 GP starts. Further back in the Bianchi
family tree, his Grandfather Mauro tasted success in GT racing. Jules' career
began by racing karts at age 5 and enjoyed much success. He made the step up to
racing cars in 2007, where he won the Formula Renault 2.0 French series on his
first attempt, scoring five wins in the process. He made a smooth transition to
Formula 3 the following year, finishing 3rd overall in the F3 Euroseries, where
he won two rounds, plus the prominent Masters race for ART. He remained at ART
in 2009 and scored eight victories to take a comfortable championship victory.
The stand out event for Jules that year would be that Ferrari had been keeping
a close eye on him and he was eventually signed up to their F1 young driver
program.
2010 saw Bianchi
step up again, this time to GP2, Formula 1's main feeder series. This is a
series where the likes of Lewis Hamilton, Nico Romberg and Romain Grosjean, to
name a few, have graduated and became successful Formula 1 drivers. Bianchi
raced in GP2 Asia during the winter of 2009 to prepare for the main series. He
finished 3rd overall failing to take a victory, but 3rd overall in your rookie
season where the competition is so fierce is nothing to be ashamed of. A
characteristic of Bianchi was seemingly his loyalty and honesty, and this was
seen in 2011 where is started his 4th year with ART. He finished second in the
shortened four round GP2 Asia championship, which was won by Romain Grosjean.
Grosjean also beat Jules to the title in the main series, which saw him given
another chance in F1 with the Lotus team. Bianchi ended up finishing 3rd
overall again after Luca Filippi had a brilliant second half to the season.
Bianchi's season yielded one victory at Silverstone and constant points
finishes, but ultimately he never recovered from a poor start to the year which
saw him crash out in Spain and Monaco.
Despite being
beaten, Ferrari still supported the young Frenchman, giving him further F1
experience in 2012 along with Force India, who gave him 9 free practise
sessions over the course of the season. On top of this, he was competing in the
Formula Renault 3.5 championship with Tech 1 Racing. It was a year of frustration
for Bianchi from the first race right down to the last. He lost his second
place debut result and 18 valuable points due to a technical infringement.
Jules went into the final double header of the season leading the championship,
but fell behind rival Robin Frijns in the first race. In the final round, Bianchi
showed his talent and race craft by pulling off a brilliant move on Frijns,
only to be taken out by Frijns a few corners later. Unfortunately for Bianchi,
the stewards punishment wasn't enough to hand him the title from Frijns.
2013 would
see Bianchi finally make the step up into F1. Again, frustrations would hamper
Bianchi's start as he was in the running to join Paul di Resta at Force India
after testing for them during the winter. However, during the final pre-season
test, the team announced that Adrian Sutil would be the second driver. This
left Bianchi without a drive until Luiz Razia's sponsorship package fell
through, opening up a drive with the team that Bianchi took up. It wasn't the
car that would show his true ability, but that didn't stop him showing glimpses
of how good he was. In just his second drive for the team in Malaysia, he
finished 13th, which eventually meant the team would finish 10th in the
constructors championship, and be given vital financial rewards. Throughout the
year, he constantly out performed team mate Max Chilton and a true star was
clear for everyone to see. Not surprisingly, the team retained Jules for 2014
and he was also performing tests for Ferrari, who had become Marussia's engine
supplier. Undoubtedly, the highlight of his short F1 career was the 9th place
finish in Monaco last year, giving Marussia there only points in F1. Jules' performance
was brilliant that day; yes he was helped by retirements, but that can't take
away the fact that he was so quick on the day. His season was going as well as
he could have hoped after the points in Monaco, until that fateful day at the
Japanese GP. Adrian Sutil's Sauber had crashed heavily, and a recovery crane
was on the scene to recover the vehicle. This would be the crane that
eventually took Jules' life. Bianchi lost control of his Marussia and collided
with the crane. Sadly for every F1 fan, this would be the last time we would
see this talented driver behind the wheel of an F1 car.
Jules was
destined for fantastic things in F1 but now unfortunately,
the world will never see his true potential. He showed just how good he was in
a poor, underpowered car, and he also showed stunning pace when testing for
Ferrari in 2014 at Silverstone in place of Kimi Raikkonen. His points for
Marussia in Monaco last year are the sole reason the team now known as Manor
are racing this season. The GPDA will now be looking into new safety measures
to ensure that the sport keeps on being as safe as physically possible, and
becoming safer still. The only way I can really end this is #RIPJules
#CiaoJules
No comments:
Post a Comment