The Tragedy of Jules Bianchi

good to see you morning nice to meet you you've had a very impressive season and a half in Formula 1 so early in your career people were saying you were the next alono and you Al on so that's how impressive you you your your early races had been um will you be Formula 1 World Champion do you think in your heart it's a cliched question one that all young racing drivers asked themselves at some point V biane the answer to that question started at 3 years old when he first started racing in go-karts I mean yeah it it was all fun and the fact that as father the Fleep owning the go-kart track made driving every day a possibility but it was always fueled by Passion and by the time he reached 15 years old he was a professional a factory driver for the Marinello carting team he proved himself all over the world against the best of the best and by the age of 17 he was under the management of Nicholas tot son of Jean tot and a direct link to the Ferrari Formula One team the days of carting were never going to last forever so for 2007 je made the step up into racing cars beginning his journey toward his dream of racing in Formula 1 his first inent in a racing car would come in a series far removed from those Heights however he would first be racing in the French formula Renault championship this would normally be heralded as a learning year nothing much expected but to learn the road before having a serious crack at the title for the next season but juel wouldn't need that because in his Maiden season he won the whole damn thing after taking five wins and hardly ever leaving the podium bian beat everybody to become the French formula Rena Champion that was a Fair start I think it could be said next season would be a step up for biane because this time he would be racing in Formula 3 he would link up with art Grand Prix a partnership that would last for at least a little while and his teammates that year included the one and only Nico can back the Hulk already had a year under his belt in this series and in this team too and that did pay dividends at the start of the year but as the season progressed bian started getting better results and he was getting closer ultimately it wasn't enough but still T NAB two wins and third in the championship in his rookie year wasn't bad at all and in the prestigious zandvoort Masters he would defeat Mr hulkenberg winning on the Sunday and putting his name in the history books biane would return to the same series for 2009 and well need I tell you how it went win after win after win apart from a slightly unhealthy gymnastics at br's hatch it was a comprehensive and comfortable Championship win comfortably beating his teammates Adrien tombe estan Gutierrez and vter botas he doubled in a few more events here and there including the maau Grand Prix however in his two attempts at this race he never seemed to click he never seemed to Showcase what he would do over in Europe it was strange especially given what would happen in the years that followed but after 2009 it wouldn't matter because after having become champion in Formula Renault and Formula 3 je was about ready to make another step up back in the time where the FIA was more confused than it is now the final step in the Formula 1 fed series ladder was gp2 don't ask me why they didn't just call it Formula 2 Bernie became deliberately obtuse once he was overrun with gray hair biane made his category debut Midway through the Asian summer series in Abu Dhabi and immediately he was on the pace beating teammate and Mercedes F1 test driver Sam bird in his very first qualifying session and getting po position in the next race in Bahrain he stunned onlookers with daring moves throughout the field it seemed as if he was playing all of this on easy mode of course this was all a bit of a warm-up for the proper season in Europe for 2010 first round of that season bang po position it was a great introduction to the series and rather fitting that he had the number one born upon his car this made it easy to see how he was progressing but it also meant it was easy to see him crashing a couple times that year he made rookie errors that threw him out of the race and straight into the hospital he did manage to complete the full season however and finished the year in third place the highest Place rookie and not all that far behind second place man Sergio Perez so with the pace shown some were expecting biane to be a Shuan for the title battle in 2011 however it was a slow start for him it wasn't until silverston where he was consistently bringing home the points but even then the pairing of Raman Goan and dams that year were indominable je got close to the Asia series title but again it was won by the washed Banker you would imagine that despite the setback he'd returned for another shot at the title for 2012 I mean Third Time Lucky right wrong that season he would instead Drive in the world series by Renault series by Renault 3.5 Series this seems like a strange call in hindsight but back then this series was seen as being superior to the gp2 series even in his own racing series Bernie was being out foxed in that season the Yankee would be driving with tech One racing it was a strong team but he had some strong opponents it also didn't help when he was disqualified from the first race for Stuff Beyond his control but as the year went on he remained firmly in the title battle a win here a win there always showing what he could do hitting into the final round at Catalonia he was leading the standings but in that final race it was virtually a winner takes all scenario between himself and Red Bull back driver Robin fryes now fres is an amazing driver make no mistake but it was clear from the GetGo that biane was either going to stay behind him or that he one way or the other would leave him behind on lap 20 bian dived to the inside for fourth place and was now clear of fries he knew that if he could put a car between himself and the Dutchman that he y biani would be the champion and then je was thrown off into the sandbox with the ferocity of a man who knew there was nothing left to lose for sure fres was a worthy Champion but for a lot of people in particular Jules himself what happened left a sour taste in their mouths it's one of the worst ways to end a championship and it was understandably demoralizing for some drivers this could have been the end of their story right or wrong people only ever remember who won the title but forj rather than it being the end of his career it was about to move up to a whole new level the marusia Formula 1 team had only really come into existence in 2012 when Richard Branson realized that he had no idea what the he'd gotten into just 2 years prior they had Teemo Glock and sha Peak as their drivers for 2012 and they were a fairly solid driver combination so solid in fact that for 2013 they were both like go in their place they hired Max Chilton the less said the better and in that other seat driving alongside Chilton in Formula 1 for 2013 was of course lis razier what wait who well Lou razier a Brazilian driver who had been running around in junior Racing for a little while he was putting in some pretty good performances he was a gp2 vice champion and he was already a Formula 1 Test driver and now he would be something more a fullon Formula 1 Grand Prix driver that was until his funding turned up with three or four less zeros than what Maria were demanding this meant that Razia would not race for the team in 2013 this meant that maruia we're now in search of another driver biane had been on the radar of F1 teams ever since his Formula 3 days and him being managed by Nicholas tot meant that the Ferrari links were there from a very early time back when Felipe Massa was injured in 2009 and Luca Barda was starting to drown in his place biane was named as a potential replacement despite not having yet made the step up to gp2 imagine that making your Formula 1 debut with Ferrari he wouldn't get it but what he would get yet as a young driver's test at herth in December that year what resulted from this was a long-term contract with the Ferrari Formula 1 team and the distinction of being the first recruit of the Ferrari driver Academy for 2011 he was the test and reserved driver for Ferrari and in 2012 he drove a nine practice sessions with force India whilst being that team's test and Reserve driver as well he was actually set to join the grid as a full-time driver for force India in 2013 But ultimately money talked and the seat instead went to Adrien sual now force India were not powered by Ferrari engines but the maras were and so given the connections as well as everything else that goes into making a Formula One deal happened the dine was signed and xiane would race for maruia in 2013 he had achieved his dream of racing in Formula 1 at the first round of Melbourne he finished in 15th Place it doesn't sound like much but in a maruia of which he had only 2 days experience before this weekend that was pretty damn impressive I mean it's a solid day out if these drivers don't finish two or more laps down behind the leaders that's the peak engineering that we're dealing with here the pace deficit to his teammate was enormous yeah sure it was Max Chilton the least intimidating Prospect next to getting into an octagon with an onion but you play the hand you de and Sh was dealing him a right schack in the balls his race Pace was really impressive too his fastest race time being quicker than the likes of v botas and Daniel Ricardo who were in better cars he continued this form in Malaysia being an Absolute Pest to those in better Machinery very early on this kid's potential was rising to the floor and that was good news for maruia because their big battle was merely finishing ahead of their Arch Rivals Krim finishing ahead of them meant literal millions and prize money it also gave them more exposure better access to potential sponsors and investors and ultimately more money to be able to keep their doors open and their lights on and Je was the very glue that was keeping their Crusade alive The Monaco Grand Prix is the juel and formula 1's Crown if you can perform well here people will remember you although for jeel things didn't get off to the best of starts he couldn't complete a lap in qualifying and on the formation lap his electronics also went on strike and wouldn't allow him to select any gear remarkably his car suddenly reanimated itself in time for him to start from the pit Lane which in a maruia is effectively the same as trying to understand a Christopher Nolan movie before it's already over his mind was on the long game even if that meant staying behind a snail of a teammate for just a little bit even if it meant being behind him when Pastor Maldonado deployed his by now standard acrobatic trick of climbing over people rather than going around them some drivers like to claim that the wall jumped out in front of me well sh had legitimate claim to that he had to pit for a new nose but that wouldn't spell the end for his drudge of Doom starting his 59th lap bianki was approaching santav VA when his rear breaks decided that 58 laps was good enough he was hurled into to the barriers at unnerving speed and gave him his first dnf of the season in Montreal jeul was once again victorious in the maruia catr and best of worst battle it was a good performance from the guy as has been the case ever since he first set foot into that car but that weekend was marred by the death of track Marshall Mark Robinson it had been the first Trackside fatality since gr beverage in 2011 these people are the volunteers who take time out of the weekends to make all of these events possible I don't think they ever truly appreciated enough and it was a reminder of the dangers of the sport whether you're in the grand stands in a Formula 1 car or track side next to a JCB at this stage in the season the cats were making life very difficult for biane whether Maria had fallen back or not the reality was that both sha Peak and guo vard were finishing ahead of him more times than he would like silverston was a SLO of a race he was Miles Ahead of his teammate but katrum again found themselves in front in Germany Peak out qualified biane and the quest to finish ahead of the katrum was hampered by his Ferrari engine converting itself into an offshore oil rig biane pulled over to the side of the track to get out he walked away angrily muttering to himself over the ineptitude of the car he was driving he took one last look back to gawk in disgust only to find that his car wasn't there anymore affronted by his abandonment the maruia ran away from jeul going the wrong way down the hill causing an alarming amount of danger to the other drivers still in the race before eventually being stopped by this Brave advertising board as much fun as we'd love to make of it it was horrendously dangerous I mean obviously and also symbolic of some of the luck or lack thereof that je was encountering it also didn't help that no matter what he did there would always be a katrum in front of him even his heroic performance in Belgium where he got into the second part of qualifying in a freaking maruia the katum of Gander guard was there ahead of him and in the race two it was clear that the Kats had moved ahead of maruia in terms of pure pace and then in Singapore disaster he was beaten in the race by his teammate Max chilon most mortal Souls would not bear the embarrassment it was a struggle to stay with the krums and right now jules's 13th Place finish in Malaysia was the only thing that was keeping maruia ahead in the Constructor standings Kum were getting uncomfortably close to beating that at the Japanese Grand Prix bian's race was over before it really began he and Vander guard colliding at the first corner and taking them both out of the race it was a tragic weekend for maruia not so much for what happened here but for something else just before the weekend commenced the team's former test driver Maria devilot succumbed to injury sustained in a Testing crash the previous year the team would have been hoping for a good result but alas it all came to not the rest of that year was a bit of a drudge for biane there wasn't much he could do with a car that was as slow as it was but he still did the best that he could with it and in the end maruia did beat katrum in the constructor's standings and of those drivers the Yankee finished on top of all of them in the driver's standings for these efforts je was awarded Rookie of the Year at the Autos sport Awards All Things Considered this was a very successful season very impressive given how rubbish the maruia was he was also warmly received around the entire Paddock a kid void of the typical ego of the silver spoon racing driver someone quite grounded and ultimately it was jula's results alone that kept maruia ahead of katrum in the championship battle 2014 however was going to be even trickier little improvements were made to help bridge the gap to the likes of salba but it largely looked set to be another battle with katrum and they had a new driver lineup That year which included the highly regarded CI Kobayashi if there was one thing for certain it was that camui was going to take that katrum within an inch of its technological capabilities and with the new power unit regulations for the year shifting from 2.4 L V8 to 1 1.6 L V6 turbos reliability was now going to be a factor two it meant that mly surviving until the end of the race was going to play a big part on the future of the teams sure the Silver Arrows war between St Louis Hamilton and Niko rosberg slapped that year but the battle between CI kabashi of katrum and X biani of maruia was going to be equally as juicy they were fighting not just for their Futures but the futures of everyone in their teams the futures of the teams themselves a lot was on the line here in the first round of Melbourne reliability would play a big factor and it went against biane Electronics played to Sunday and virtually rented him out of contention before it even began luckily for him Kobayashi threw his car into the sandbox at turn one on lap one after electing to turn his steering wheel only after his front wheels had vacated the car in Malaysia he set a scorching time in qualifying going almost 2 seconds faster than chilon and almost a second clear of Kobayashi the French always were good at driving boats but in the race he would throw himself into the side of M AR's car thanks to a punctured courtesy of Jean Eric ver he would Soldier on for a little while until his brakes wave the white flag on laat and drop kicked him out of the race the Yankee was handed penalty points for this the stewards deeming him to be at fault despite the puncture having really caused it the battle between biani and Kobayashi was still raging not much was separating them and qualifying and if anything the Krim looked to have the edge on the maruia again in Bahrain Jill once again got a little bit too frisky with another car even if it was a car that the Maria had absolutely no right racing against the stewards gave him a drive-through penalty throwing him behind Kobayashi he simply could not afford to keep on doing this in Shanghai they battled hard the entire way biane was in front Kobayashi behind on the last lap neither wanted to relinquish even a finishing and 17th Place meant well nothing not even for them cimi threw it down the inside bianki tried to block but it was too late both of them chirping the rear under breakes and ultimately Kobayashi passed ban Yankee in a move that a was freaking amazing and B didn't count thanks to the chicken flag being way too early thus officially ending the race early confused well I don't blame you thems be the way of F1 sometimes in Spain the maruia was in no man's land but at least they had triumphed over the krums it must be said bian's performances were thus far marked by ruggedness on his end some would argue that this just couldn't continue then again sometimes you've just got to take that risk especially when Stakes are so damn High the Grand Prix circus returned to Monaco marusia and katrum knew that this race would be their best chance to score points what with the attrition race end the walls being in clutch proximity with the maldonados and all even then though it was a bit of a pipe dream and starting from the back of the grid is never easy hell even starting from second here isn't easy so vual biani in the maruia who was starting in at the very back of the grid owing to a gearbox penalty this was about as not easy as it could get on Sunday they lined up on the grid with some drivers at the back having moved forward after maldonado's car elected to finish the race for him in that Bunch was jeel he might have been at the back but what he did have was 78 laps to make everything right 78 laps to prove his worth 78 laps to show the world who je byan was lights out away they go byan did his best to Avid the usual first like clown show that took out a couple of cars ahead of him and from there he was hanging on to the coattails of Kobayashi keeping himself in contention and staying out of trouble but then this [Music] happened well that's a real kick in the teeth a 5-second penalty on this track could drop you several positions but worse still Kobayashi didn't get one and now he was running in 13th Place with more drivers surely doomed to perform Misfortune in this race if CI kept his nose clean he was was certain to improve and if he did it would likely put katrum ahead of maruia in the Constructor standings when Adrien sule disassembled as salba on La 25 Maisha pulled juls in to get his first Pit Stop done and in the process get his 5-second penalty out of the way this was canny given it was under safety car conditions and thus the time lost would have been minimal it did seem smart just one problem this was totally not allowed these penalties had to be taken under green flag conditions the moment the safety car goes out you can't any of them so it was let known to maruia that bian's 5-second penalty still had to be served they were back to square one but because he wouldn't be pitting again the 5 Seconds would be added on to his race time so mishia and Jules knew that wherever they wanted to finish it had to be more than 5 Seconds ahead of the car behind them before the safety car came to an end in a place where cameras couldn't reach the Ferrari of Kim renan came into the pit Lane to replace a tire that was punctured by Max Chilton's Ro front Wing when he came back out he was wedged in between biane and Kobayashi Kimmy had a lot more trouble passing that than what would be naturally acceptable when both of them neglected to negotiate The newv Hairpin Kobayashi was told to give up that spot to renan and in that one moment of complacency in that one instance of an Open Door the Yankee [Music] pounced it was a grimy filthy brilliant move that catapulted Yankee up into 12th Place and he began to Sprint away from the he then Ed off a charge from Jean Eric ver in the Tor Roso whose Rena power unit promptly blew itself to Smither Rines over down at the low's haen B's power unit must have heard this and thus joined him in a mark of respect curiously Marshall's unive racetrack didn't constitute a safety car even if it was the slowest part of the racetrack but what this meant was that biane was now within one place of the top 10 he was within one place of a point scoring position and this was significant ever since the new teams came into Formula 1 back in 2010 none of them ever scored a point if one could get close they would consider it a good day but to actually get points would be considered a drive worthy of a guard and here was biane close so freaking close to making the impossible possible but he still had that 5-second penalty looming over his head nothing was guaranteed and he was surrounded by cars that were faster than his was when estan gieras hit the inside barrier and spun and moves juel up into 10th Place there was still a while to go in this race but it was now getting very very real for maruia the laps whittel down and biane was still sitting firm in P10 but his problem was that Roman Gran in the Lotus was hanging around behind him he wasn't in any real danger of being passed by that wash Banker but he was within 5 Seconds of biane despite the extraordinary pace of je who was already impressing just being where he was being ahead of a Lotus which had not have been behind him je was still likely going to need a miracle in these dying laps if he was going to stay in the points Kimmy reenan and Kevin Magnus Tangled At The Hairpin and opened the door wide open for the cars behind them eventually they both got back into the race cussing in all manner of Nordic speak toward each other in author's kafuffle it was pointless VOR to ponder the math for the rest of the race he just had to drive drive the best that he could what got him into the situation in the first place and just hoped that in the end it would be [Music] enough he did it he freaking did it ziani had scored points in a maruia around this the most demanding racetrack in all of Formula 1 yes other people fell by the wayside but when you look at his race Pace it was scary despite being on Old ties and being around a bunch of faster cars he was more than holding his own and at the end of the day he wasn't the one that crashed he didn't make those mistakes well I mean apart from the grid thing but there is no way a result like this should have been possible and it's precisely why this performance was so revered all the hard work at marusia had paid off and with these two points Maria went now safely ahead of katrum and there were also a head of saba a team that had been in the sport since 1993 they had a good reputation and good resources this wasn't in the script none of it was Jewel was a hero to everyone in the motor racing world to everyone in the principality of Monaco and to all his friends and family including his godson who himself was an aspiring racing driver this was incredible amazing frankly nothing can bring this moment down well apart from being punted off by your own teammate in the next round perhaps they blamed each other but irrespective of who done it the reality was that they were both out of the race an activity which doesn't yield any points apparently as the year Drew on je gradually began to close the gap down between the maras and the cars ahead the katrum battle had gone a little bit flat now they were hunting down the Salas and the lowai Germany was a good race from the the lad a little bit Anonymous but still a solid day out but that wasn't what most remember from that race what we remembered was this Marshall's running across a live racetrack to retrieve a grief stricken car in such a vulnerable area if one driver breaks traction out of this corner what the hell is going on here where is the safety car are we just going to wait until the inevitable happens this incident raised serious questions about the usage of the safety car or lack thereof we saw this a couple of times this year but this you are playing with fire here some may call it soft say that again if it's someone you care about running across a live racetrack like this where the consequences could be unconscionable by this time x was breaking into Q2 in qualifying a lot more often it was starting to become less of a surprise at this point actually and he was really the only one of the bottom four that were able to do it at least consistently some great performances such as weakend in Belgium and Singapore reaffirmed the praise heaped upon him but the thing about that Singapore race is that when he crossed the line on lap 60 it would be the last time that he would see the checken flag the conditions for the Japanese Grand Prix were appalling the rain brought on by typhoon was so bad that FIA race director Charlie Whiting suggested that the start time be changed in the name of safety but the organizers refused Honda the track owners wanted people in the grand stands and the FIA hierar also didn't want the worldwide coverage to be interrupted these are the best drivers in the world surely they were good enough to cope with anything thrown at them they reasoned the setic car LED them away for the first lap under yellow flag conditions the race was underway even at this race drivers were struggling for grip but hey keeping the corporate sponsors happy that's all that matters right once driver started spinning off at slow speed the race was red flag act on lap three after 20 minutes of waiting around the conditions improved enough and out they went to start again by this time the safety car had done its job and it was finally time to race almost immediately drivers began to pit for intermediate tires but not all of them which led to the immortal sight of zuiani sitting in third place in a maruia strategy or not that was something you only ever see in video games or on hallucinogens eventually he was hauled into the pits leaving him no alternative but to fight as much as he could and to as delicately as possible in the damnn conditions and then it started to rain again it started to rain hard and it was beginning to catch drivers out on lap 40 Adrien sual spun off a Dunlop and smacked into the barriers the conditions by now were starting to reach undrivable levels and on a corner like that even in the dry a mistake isn't savable one lap later je reached the same part of the racetrack he spun off he spun off in almost the exact same place as sule did but when his car finally reached the outer edges of the gravel trap there was a JCB right in his path he collided with the tractor with a collision so Fierce it lifted it off the ground the team radio Jews to ask if he was okay there was no response the crash registered 254 G and by the time the marshals reached him it was cleared that the head injuries were severe the race was stopped this time it was Final J was taken via ambulance to a local medical Center it was soon confirmed that he had diffused axonal injury and had undergone an operation to reduce severe cranial bleeding in the Intensive Care Unit he remained in a critical but stable condition on a ventilator in Japan all around the world support rain for Jewels both within the motor racing world and in the general public Forza jewes was on everyone's lips in November he emerged from his induced coma and was able to breathe uned and was transferred back to his hometown of nce it gave a lot of us hope that his condition would improve but it wouldn't prove on the 17th of June 2015 Jules was gone multiple changes resulted from this tragedy all for the better but blame kep being thrown around after this was J driving too fast should a safety car have been deployed when the rain became too much should they have been racing at all whatever one's conclusion is out of it jules's loss hit the motor racing Community hard not least of all those closest to him it wasn't just that we lost a great racing driver we had lost a great human being the whole thing echoed the tragedy of Greg Moore another young driver who was universally liked and had all the talent in the world but was taken away far too soon maruia struggled on for one more race before folding altogether they would eventually be rebranded to Mana racing and they had finished ahead of salba and Krim in the Constructor Championship their best ever finish but at a terrible cost the number 17 was retired in his honor and Ferrari confirmed that juel had been chosen for the future for the last 2 years he had proven that he was worthy of a seas in Marinello and while he never got that race seat at Ferrari his godson did charlot Clair drives on with the aim of completing the dream to this day Jew remains in the memory of all those who watched him whether that be in his days in running around a go-kart track diving down the inside in gp2 or performing The Impossible in a maruia Formula 1 car see while he may not be here anymore his legacy lives on forever it's been nearly 10 years but he's still there he always will [Music] be will you be Formula 1 World Champion in your heart I I don't want to to say I will because it's uh it's wrong for me to say that nobody knows but uh for sure I want and um I will do all what I can to to become one one day and if I can't I will have no regrets

Channel: Josh Revell

Views: 185,976

Keywords: f1, formula 1, bianchi, jules bianchi, 2014 monaco grand prix, 2014 monaco grand prix bianchi, jules bianchi points, bianchi points, 2014 monaco jules bianchi, 2014 f1, 2013 f1, marussia, marussia f1, marussia bianchi, jules bianchi marussia, 2014 monaco gp, 2014 monaco

Id: 0QsWX6q6D4s

Length: 30min 13sec (1813 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 11 2024