Jules Bianchi

Jules Lucien André Bianchi (; 3 August 1989 – 17 July 2015) was a French motor racing driver who drove for the Marussia F1 Team in the FIA Formula One World Championship.

Bianchi had previously raced in Formula Renault 3.5, GP2 and Formula Three and was a Ferrari Driver Academy member. He entered Formula One as a practice driver in 2012 for Sahara Force India. In 2013, he made his debut driving for Marussia, finishing 15th in his opening race in Australia and ended the season in 19th position without having scored any points. His best result that year was 13th at the . In October 2013, the team confirmed that he would drive for the team the following season. In the 2014 season, he scored both his and the Marussia team's first points in Formula One at the .

On 5 October 2014, during the , Bianchi lost control of his Marussia in very wet conditions and collided with a recovery vehicle, suffering a diffuse axonal injury. He underwent emergency surgery and was placed into an induced coma, and remained comatose until his death on 17 July 2015. Bianchi's death was the first to result from an on-track incident in Formula One in over 20 years, after Ayrton Senna's fatal accident at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. As of 2022, it is also the most recent fatal accident to have occurred in Formula One.

Personal life

Jules Bianchi was born in Nice, France, to Philippe and Christine Bianchi. He had two siblings, brother Tom and sister Mélanie, and had been the godfather of current Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc.

Bianchi was the grandson of , who competed in GT racing during the 1960s and three non-championship Formula One Grands Prix in . He was also the grandnephew of Lucien, who competed in 19 Formula One Grands Prix between and and won the 1968 24 Hours of Le Mans, before dying during Le Mans testing the following year.

His favourite racing driver was Michael Schumacher.

Early career

Bianchi's exposure to motorsport started at around 3 years of age through karting and was facilitated by the fact that his father owned a kart track. Since age 17, Bianchi was professionally managed by Nicolas Todt.

Formula Renault 2.0

In 2007, Bianchi left karting and raced in French Formula Renault 2.0 for SG Formula, where he finished as champion with five wins. He also competed in the Formula Renault Eurocup where he had one pole position and one fastest lap in three races.

Formula 3 Euro

In late 2007, Bianchi signed with ART Grand Prix to compete in the Formula 3 Euro Series.

In 2008 Bianchi won the Masters of Formula 3 at Zolder, and also finished third in the 2008 Formula 3 Euro Series season.

Bianchi continued in the F3 Euroseries in 2009, leading ART's line-up along with rookie team-mates Valtteri Bottas, Esteban Gutiérrez and Adrien Tambay. With eight wins, Bianchi sealed the title with a round to spare, at Dijon-Prenois. He then added a ninth win at the final round at Hockenheim. He also drove in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series at Monaco, after SG Formula acquired the cars formerly run by Kurt Mollekens.

GP2

Bianchi drove for ART in the subsequent GP2 Asia season and the 2010 GP2 season. He competed in three of the four rounds of the GP2 Asia championship. In the main series, Bianchi took two pole positions and a number of points positions before he was injured in a first-lap crash at the Hungaroring. In the feature race, he spun into the path of the field exiting the first corner, and was struck head-on by Ho-Pin Tung, sustaining a fractured second lumbar vertebra in the process. Bianchi was fourth in the drivers' championship at the time of his injury. Despite initial pessimistic assessments of the severity of his injury, he recovered to take part in the next round of the championship.

Bianchi remained with ART for 2011, and was partnered by 2010 GP3 Series champion Esteban Gutiérrez. He starred in the first two rounds of the 2011 GP2 Asia Series, holding off Romain Grosjean for victory in the feature race and gaining fourth in the sprint race, but he was later penalised. He finished runner-up to Grosjean in the drivers' championship. In the main series, Bianchi finished third in the championship, behind Grosjean and Luca Filippi.

Formula Renault 3.5

Bianchi opted to switch to the Formula Renault 3.5 Series for 2012, following his one-off appearance in the category in 2009. He signed for the Tech 1 Racing team, and was partnered with Kevin Korjus, and later with Daniel Abt. He finished second in the title race, narrowly losing out to Robin Frijns at the final round.

Formula One career

Ferrari and Sahara Force India (test roles)

In August 2009, Bianchi was linked by the BBC
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