Formula 1's Latest Rumours & Talk: Manor, Ferrari Lead Tributes to Jules Bianchi
Jules Bianchi only competed in Formula One for less than two seasons, yet the sheer scale of his talent was evident to all who observed his 34 appearances in the pinnacle of motorsport.
His presence at the Marussia team, in a section of the grid swarmed by no-hopers and pay drivers alike, was a constant reminder that talent—real, genuine talent—could still stand out.
In consecutive seasons, he led Marussia to their best finishes in the constructors' championship, bringing the team along with him to score their first points at the 2014 Monaco Grand Prix, which will surely go down as his greatest moment.
Even in his final race, the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix, Bianchi managed to run as high as third in the wet, the type of conditions where the vices of a driver's machinery are rendered meaningless and their skill, touch and natural feel for a racing car become all-important.
Unfortunately, those conditions are also the most hazardous. And on a day when anyone could have lost control at any moment, it was Bianchi who aquaplaned off the track and collided with a recovery vehicle.
His death at the age of 25, nine months on from that terrible afternoon at Suzuka, has cast a shadow over F1, robbing the sport of a star.
Here are a number of tributes to Bianchi, from the Frenchman's colleagues at Manor Marussia and Ferrari to his fellow competitors and F1's ringmaster.
Jules Bianchi 'Left an Indelible Mark' on Manor Marussia
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Manor Marussia have led the tributes to former driver Jules Bianchi following the 25-year-old's death on Friday.
Marussia were the only team Bianchi raced for in Formula One, with the Frenchman, who had been overlooked by Force India, landing a seat with the backmarkers for 2013 after they were forced to part company with Luiz Razia.
Bianchi, however, proved to be far more than a backup option, as he quickly adapted to F1, regularly beating fellow rookie Max Chilton and scoring Marussia's first points at the 2014 Monaco Grand Prix.
Those points were not only decisive in the team's ninth-place finish in the constructors' standings but crucial to Marussia's future, with the team emerging from administration to return to the grid for 2015.
Bianchi's death comes less than two years after Maria de Villota, the team's former test driver, died more than a year after suffering serious injuries in a 2012 crash at Duxford Aerodrome. Team principal John Booth paid an emotional tribute to the Nice-born driver on Manor's official Facebook page:
"Words cannot describe the enormous sadness within our team this morning, as we come to terms with losing Jules. He has left an indelible mark on all our lives, and will forever be part of everything we have achieved, and everything we will strive for going forward.
Jules was a shining talent. ... He was also a magnificent human being, making a lasting impression on countless people all over the world. They recognised, as did we, that at the same time as being a fiercely motivated racer, he was also an extremely warm, humble and intensely likeable person, who lit up our garage and our lives.
"
Bianchi made a total of 34 grand prix starts for Marussia over the course of his two seasons with the team, who have competed with a tribute to their friend on their cars since the 2014 Japanese GP.
Jules Bianchi Was Set to Be a Ferrari Star, Claims Former Boss
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Ferrari decided Jules Bianchi would race for the team long before his ultimately fatal crash in last season's Japanese Grand Prix.
That is the claim of former chairman Luca di Montezemolo, who says the late Frenchman would have replaced Kimi Raikkonen whenever the team opted to part company with the 2007 world champion.
Bianchi joined Ferrari's young-driver scheme in 2009, and his links to the Prancing Horse almost certainly aided his progression to Formula One, with the Marussia team switching from Cosworth engines to Ferrari power units from 2014.
A telling indication of Ferrari's future plans came last July, when Bianchi deputised for Raikkonen in an in-season test at Silverstone as the Finn recovered from his crash in the previous weekend's British Grand Prix.
And Di Montezemolo has confirmed Bianchi was central to Ferrari's long-term future, telling Gazzetta dello Sport (h/t Autosport):
"Jules Bianchi was one of us, he was a member of the Ferrari family and was the racing driver we had chosen for the future, once the collaboration with Kimi Raikkonen came to an end.
The Suzuka crash has taken away from us a top guy, reserved, quick, very polite, extremely attached to Ferrari, one who could work and interact well with the technicians too; therefore, we lose a driver with a certain future...
A bitter destiny has instead taken him away from us, leaving an indelible mark and a great pain inside us.
"
In an era when Ferrari's rivals, McLaren and Red Bull Racing, claimed championships with homegrown talents in Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel respectively, Bianchi would have been an important signing for the Prancing Horse.
According to Sky Sports' Pete Gill, Bianchi would have switched from Marussia to another Ferrari-powered outfit, Sauber—who have employed future Ferrari stars, including Raikkonen and Felipe Massa, in years gone by—for 2015 as he continued his rise to greatness.
Max Chilton Dedicates 1st Win Since 2012 to Jules Bianchi
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Max Chilton returned to winning ways for the first time in three years on Saturday and dedicated his victory to former team-mate Jules Bianchi.
The British driver was Bianchi's team-mate for each of the Frenchman's 34 races in F1, with Chilton's consistency—he finished every one of his first 25 grand prix starts—combining well with Bianchi's speed.
After leading Marussia's one-car effort in last season's Russian Grand Prix, Chilton found his opportunities in F1 dry up and opted to combine an Indy Lights campaign with Carlin with an assault on the Le Mans 24 Hours race with Nissan for 2015.
Ninth in the championship with a best finish of third in his first season in the category, Chilton secured pole position at Iowa Speedway and followed that up with his first victory since the penultimate race of the 2012 GP2 season in Singapore.
Chilton, per BBC Sport, led 87 of the 100 laps at the oval circuit and dedicated his return to Victory Lane to Bianchi, telling the same source: "I probably thought of Bianchi every five or 10 laps.
"He was a driver destined to probably be a world champion. ... It's been a difficult nine months, to be brutally honest with you. I've learned a lot from him and he was part of that win."
The 24-year-old also paid tribute to Bianchi on Twitter, positing images of the pair as team-mates both in karting and F1.
F1 Drivers Promise to Honour Jules Bianchi's Legacy
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Seven days after Jules Bianchi's accident at Suzuka, Formula One drivers stood arm-in-arm on the Sochi grid to honour their fallen colleague.
It was a touching tribute, a reminder that while these adrenaline junkies may bang wheels and run each other off the circuit in order to gain an extra position or bag some extra points, they remain, above all else, human beings, subjecting themselves to immense danger and risk every time they sit behind the wheel.
Following the news of Bianchi's death, the drivers' union, the Grand Prix Drivers' Association, vowed to do everything possible to minimise that risk.
The Frenchman's death marks the first driver fatality as a direct consequence of a grand prix crash since Ayrton Senna, the three-times world champion, lost his life at the 1994 San Marino GP. Senna's accident came only a day after Roland Ratzenberger died in a crash on the same track.
The 21-year gap had led to an assumption that modern grand prix racing was, if anything, too safe despite a number of frightening incidents in recent seasons.
And while F1 immediately responded to Bianchi's crash by introducing the virtual safety car procedure, which neutralises the racing as a result of an on-track accident, for 2015, the GPDA has made it their mission to make further improvements to safety.
Per Motorsport.com's Jamie Klein, the union stated: "It is at times like this that we are brutally reminded of how dangerous racing still remains.
"Despite considerable improvements, we, the Grand Prix drivers, owe it to the racing community, to the lost ones and to Jules, his family and friends, to never relent in improving safety."
Bernie Ecclestone Insists F1 Is Safe Despite Jules Bianchi Crash
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While the Grand Prix Drivers' Association has vowed to improve safety, Bernie Ecclestone has insisted Formula One is safer than it's ever been.
With tracks featuring large, asphalt run-off areas, cars featuring high-sided cockpits and drivers using HANS devices, safety standards have been considerably enhanced in recent times, with most drivers now able to walk away after a heavy crash.
The injuries suffered by Jules Bianchi were as a result of his collision with a recovery vehicle deployed to remove the stricken Sauber of Adrian Sutil, who had crashed at Suzuka's Dunlop Curve just moments before the Frenchman aquaplaned off the track.
And while Ecclestone has paid tribute to Bianchi—"a very, very, very nice person" and a "very talented" driver, as he told Sky Sports—F1's ringmaster believes the freak nature of the Frenchman's crash should not sway the belief that the sport is extremely safe.
He told the same source: "Formula 1 is safe now, the cars are super safe, the circuit is safe, everything is good, as I say, if that truck hadn't have been there it wouldn’t have happened. ... We make it as safe as it is possible but obviously these guys driving as quick as they are. ... It’s safe but not safe."
According to GPUpdate.net, Ecclestone vowed to ensure Bianchi's death will be the last time anyone loses their life behind the wheel of a Formula One car, stating: "We must not let this ever happen again."
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