A prolific driver with a glittering future, Jules Bianchi lost his life after encountering a dreadful crash
In 2014, 25-year-old French driver Jules Bianchi sustained serious injuries at the Japanese Grand Prix after meeting a horrible accident. The young racer slipped into a coma and survived in a vegetative state but passed away after nine months, fighting an epic battle. It’s been seven years since the ever-smiling, charming Bianchi has left the world with a void that is hard to fill. Although a short career in the Formula world, Bianchi created some remarkable moments which spun him into a legend at 25. In this feature, we look at Bianchi’s out of the world drives.
Scoring more points than Valtteri- In 2009, Jules Bianchi was driving for team ART in the Euro 3 championship. The racer won the championship with one remaining round. That’s not all as he raised more points than Valtteri Bottas, who once drove for the same ART team.
Driving for Ferrari- After picking up the Euro 3 championship, Bianchi gained attention from the best F1 teams. Out of many organizations, Ferrari approached Bianchi to test drive their car. That run from Bianchi was exceptional because of which Ferrari wasted no time and quickly recruited him into their Ferrari Driving Academy.
Incredible run at the wet Silverstone- Jules spent two seasons in the GP2 series and performed consistently by securing a third rank in those two series. In one season, he also picked up a rostrum at the Silverstone under wet track conditions after dropping the lead during a pitstop.
Test driver for team Force India- Jules Bianchi was chosen as the test and reserve driver for the Indian team Force India in 2012. He competed in several practice runs and earned the experience of working with a middle-order team. Sadly, Force India failed to identify Bianchi’s potential (what a mistake!) and rewarded the racing seat to a more experienced racer, Adrian Sutil.
Formula One debut- In 2013, the Marussia F1 team offered a racing seat to Jules Bianchi. On his Formula One debut, Bianchi finished the race at the 15th position, surpassing his teammate Max Chilton by seven-tenths of a second. That’s not all, as Bianchi also finished ahead of Charles Pic and Giedo van der Garde.
Gone too soon but not forgotten, Bianchi’s short story has and will continue to inspire the racers of the next generation.
