In a very sad state of mind we are reporting to you that Jules Bianchi, the 21 year old Formula One racer who has been in coma for the past nine months, has succumbed to his injuries which he had received after a massive crash at the Suzuka on October 5, 2014. This is the first death in Formula One since Ayrton Senna’s tragic passing away at Imola in 1994.
Bianchi joined Formula One back in 2011 as a test driver for Ferrari, a role which he continued the next year with Force India. He was signed in by Marussia in 2013 and he scored his own and Marussia’s first points at Monaco on May 25, 2014. Unfortunately his life was cut short because of the tragic accident which took place at Suzuka.
It was raining in Japan that day and a lap before the incident, as the rain intensified, water started to creep in the drier line. That’s where Adrian Sutil lost control of his car and spun off. The very next lap, with the race under double wave yellow flag (which indicates grave danger ahead), Bianchi hit the same water patch as Sutil and lost control of his car to crash into the recovery vehicle which was lifting the previously stopped car.
Because the car was out of the track and had crossed the gravel patch an official speed could not be declared but it was later expected to be around 120 kmph. He was initially treated at General Medical Centre in Japan and later shifted to a hospital in Nice. Here is the sad note which the family released after Jules Bianchi’s death:
It is with deep sadness that the parents of Jules Bianchi, Philippe and Christine, his brother Tom and sister Mélanie, wish to make it known that Jules passed away last night at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire (CHU) in Nice, (France) where he was admitted following the accident of 5th October 2014 at Suzuka Circuit during the Japanese Formula 1 Grand Prix.
“Jules fought right to the very end, as he always did, but today his battle came to an end,” said the Bianchi family. “The pain we feel is immense and indescribable. We wish to thank the medical staff at Nice’s CHU who looked after him with love and dedication. We also thank the staff of the General Medical Center in the Mie Prefecture (Japan) who looked after Jules immediately after the accident, as well as all the other doctors who have been involved with his care over the past months.
“Furthermore, we thank Jules’ colleagues, friends, fans and everyone who has demonstrated their affection for him over these past months, which gave us great strength and helped us deal with such difficult times. Listening to and reading the many messages made us realise just how much Jules had touched the hearts and minds of so many people all over the world.
“We would like to ask that our privacy is respected during this difficult time, while we try to come to terms with the loss of Jules.”
Jules Bianchi was a wonderful racer. While Formula One is one of the most competitive racing championships in the world, the low strung teams are always miles behind the front runners. With that cart hog of a car, Bianchi showed the world his skills by bringing the car home in 9th place in Monaco. Had he went on to live a full life may be he would have lived on to become one of the greatest racers in the world.
Learning from this incident Formula One Management decided that all races, apart from the night races, will have to begin at least four hours before sunset to make F1 safer.
Image courtesy: Jules Bianchi Facebook page
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