It’s true. 9 months after Jules Bianchi crashed at the Japanese GP at Suzuka, the 25-year-old Frenchman has sadly passed away. The announcement came from his family who released an official statement earlier today.
“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 realize 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.”
Before making his debut in Formula 1, Jules Bianchi raced in Formula Renault 2.0, Formula 3, GP2, and Formula Renault 3.5. He was then signed as a reserve/test driver in 2011 with Ferrari, followed by Force India in 2012. Come 2013, Bianchi was signed by Marussia and finally made it on the grid. There he competed in 34 races for 2 seasons, with a best 9th place finish at Monaco ’14.
But on the 5th of October 2014, on a rain-soaked Japanese GP at Suzuka, Bianchi spun off track and hit a tractor crane that was recovering another car. The impact was so severe that it destroyed the left-hand size of the Marussia. More importantly, Bianchi’s head hit the back of the tractor, causing a severe head injury that left him in a coma ever since ’til the day of his passing.
Technically, this is the first fatality in Formula 1 competition after Ayrton Senna in 1994.
We at Time Attack Manila are deeply saddened with this news and would like to extend our deepest condolences to his friends and family.
