Graeme Lowdon, future Cadillac Team Principal for 2026 and then CEO of Marussia, has shared his heartfelt memories of Jules Bianchi—
Graeme Lowdon, future Cadillac Team Principal for 2026 and then CEO of Marussia, has shared his heartfelt memories of Jules Bianchi. —ten years after the young driver’s tragic passing on July 17, 2015, following nearly a year in a coma.
Bianchi raced exclusively in Formula 1 for Marussia, the team that would later become Manor Grand Prix before folding at the end of 2016. Lowdon, who oversaw the team during those years, is now preparing to lead Cadillac’s F1 entry.
Recalling Suzuka 2014: The Day Everything Changed
Now focused on driver selection for the upcoming season, Lowdon appeared on the High Performance podcast to remember the young Frenchman.
Follows the reconstruction of what happened in Japan in 2014: “The weather conditions were extremely challenging. Jules had his accident there, and very quickly we were facing a situation where a driver had been seriously injured. As soon as I realized what had happened, I thought: ‘This isn’t going to end well.’ We had no radio response, which was not a good sign “.
““I remember jumping down from the pit wall and heading straight to the medical centre. Thankfully, it’s relatively easy to access at Suzuka. But once there, no one was allowed inside. Bernie Ecclestone, who was then the CEO of Formula 1, organised a flight for Jules’ family so they could be by his side in hospital
“Lowdon went on to recall the moment Bianchi’s family arrived in Japan: “As a parent myself, I can’t imagine what they were going through. And yet, when they entered the hospital room, their first concern was for us, for how we were doing. It was… I’ve actually never spoken about this publicly before. In that moment, my only priority was the family. I’m not a doctor. And when something like that happens, you ask yourself: ‘Why did I study engineering?’ I don’t think we left the hospital for several days
“.“You feel powerless. You want to help, but you can’t. Of course there were amazing doctors, but emotionally, in that moment, none of it feels like enough. You wish you could do something—anything—to change the outcome “.
The #JB17 legacy
Lowdon also shared the story behind a symbolic gesture made by the team in Jules’ memory:”Eventually, we decided to create wristbands for the entire team—just for us. They weren’t made for public distribution. Each one says: ‘Monaco 2014 P8’. If you check online, it says P9 because of a penalty. But for us, it was P8. And below that: #JB17 “.
Lowdon concluded with a touching detail:
“I haven’t taken the bracelet off since 2015. And if you look around the paddock today, you’ll still see people—across different teams—wearing them “.
Photo: Marussia_F1Team, Charles Leclerc, Jules_Bianchi
