By Ellie Moylan
Despite having only been in Formula One for a couple of years, Jules Bianchi made an impact that changed the racing world forever.
Bianchi began his Formula One career as a member of Ferrari’s driver academy in 2009, taking part in the young drivers test at Circuito de Jerez, Seville driving two out of the three days using Felipe Massa’s seat.
As a consequence of his test performance, Bianchi was named the first recruit of Ferrari’s Driver Academy signing a long-term deal with the team, the following year, Ferrari confirmed him as the team’s test and reserve driver for the 2011 season.
In 2013 he was given Luiz Razia’s seat as a first team driver for Marussia, Bianchi’s first race for Marussia was the Australian Grand Prix where he qualified P19, out- performing teammate Max Chilton by three quarters of a second. His race went better than qualifying, finishing fifteenth on his debut.
By the Hungarian Grand Prix, Bianchi had out-qualified Chilton in all of the qualifying sessions and out-performed him on the races also.
In the 2014 race season, Marussia faced many problems, leading to the drivers having to retire from races. There were only nine races both of the drivers completed and, in these Bianchi, persistently performed better than Chilton.
It is no secret that Bianchi was closely linked with Ferrari, even going as far as having him as an option for their first seat in the 2015 season. Two days before his death Bianchi commented that he was ready to take the Ferrari seat if Alonso left the team. Unfortunately, this would never happen.
The 2014 Japanese Grand Prix took place in Suzuka on 5th October 2014. On this day, there was a typhoon making its way through Japan, the rain was very heavy making visibility difficult, many believed the race would be abandoned. However, they decided to carry on.
This decision led to many problems. The first one during lap 42, Sutil’s Sauber aquaplaned crashing into the run-off area at turn seven. On the next lap, Bianchi braked too late as he reached the yellow flags at the corner where Sutil crashed. He lost control of the car and also aquaplaned in the direction of Sutil’s crash, colliding with the mobile crane that was removing Sutil’s car.
The impact of Bianchi’s crash with the 6500kg mobile crane resulted in severe head injuries, he had to be put into an induced coma for nine months and he was announced dead by his family on 17th July at 25 years old.
His death shook the motorsport community and highlighted exactly how dangerous racing can be.
His family went through legal proceedings to ensure safety improvements were put on cars to prevent these accidents from happening in the future. Significant improvements included the introduction of the Virtual Safety Car, and more importantly the creation of the Halo Crash Protection Device which has prevented at least eight serious injuries since 2015 saving the lives of many drivers.
Bianchi’s legacy changed the face of motorsport.
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