Japanese GP, in the memory of Jules Bianchi: a fate broken in the Suzuka rain and a legacy that lives on today on the track.
Memory can be defined as something abstract, intangible. It carries with it a baggage full of heavy emotions, of episodes that happened and are confined to a past that we could never reach, but that continues to belong to us accompanying us day after day, during which the sun seems to lose its warmth and the rain, as a true protagonist, recalls that October Sunday ten years ago on the Suzuka circuit.
When we talk about motorsport, we think of the battles fought to the last corner on the track to carve one’s name in the history of the sport, of the victories won that brought the most successful racing teams to the roof of the world, of those drivers capable of dancing at the wheel of their single-seaters. However, if we descend into the depths, motorsport also tells of losses, of missed opportunities due to a fate that decided to write its own story that no one would be able to read, of stories cut short prematurely that leave unfinished destinies that we will never be able to tell.
At the Japanese Grand Prix, scheduled for this weekend, the name that resonates the loudest is that of Jules Bianchi, one of the black pages of Formula 1 history that reopened wounds that were never really healed after the loss of Ratzenberger and Senna and at the same time, a legacy that lives on on the track along with Charles Leclerc and the new safety measures adopted by the Federation, such as the halo.
2014, the tragic accident of Jules Bianchi
One of the most challenging conditions for a driver, but also the most dangerous one, is to race in the rain with a low percentage of visibility, defying death at the wheel of one of the fastest single-seaters in the world: this was the situation on the Japanese track during the 15th round of the 2014 Formula 1 championship.
After a year during which he served as a reserve driver for Force India (now Aston Martin Aramco F1 Team), Jules Bianchi – part of the Ferrari Driver Academy since 2009 – officially debuted in Formula 1 in 2013 as Marussia‘s starting driver, alongside Max Chilton. Finishing the season in 19th position, even for the next edition of the championship in the premier category, the French driver remains part of the line-up fielded by the Russian-licensed British team. His second season in Formula 1 brings joys, but most of all sorrows. At that year’s Monaco Grand Prix, Bianchi scores his first career points by crossing the line ninth. Eight races later, tragedy strikes.
In Japan, the backdrop is that of a gray, ominous sky declaring impending rain, a situation that in Formula 1, as in any other category of motorsport, manages to change the cards on the track. During the 43rd lap of the Grand Prix – which started behind the safety car – Adrian Sutil, Sauber driver, goes off the track at Dunlop corner due to aquaplaning.
Moments later, on the same spot on the track, Jules Bianchi violently impacts the crane that was removing the German’s single-seater. Suddenly, a deafening silence covers every part of the Suzuka circuit as they wait for news about the incident, the hands of the clock stop, while the race management makes the decision to stop the race on lap 46.
Jules Bianchi would remain a victim of that accident, expiring after nine months in a coma on July 17, 2015.The following year, at the Monaco Grand Prix, the Bianchi family announced legal action against the FIA and all those involved in the dynamics of the accident.The episode will lead the Federation to work on safety measures, improving them and introducing the halo – initially criticized by the drivers for poor visibility, but to date one of the most important tools – a solution that, had it arrived before 2018, would have allowed Jules to race wearing the colors of the Maranello-based Rossa, alongside Charles Leclerc.
Photo: Charles Leclerc, Formula 1.