Charles Leclerc will wear a special helmet this weekend in tribute to Jules Bianchi, who died following a crash in the Japanese Grand Prix 10 years ago.
Bianchi died in July 2015, nine months after sustaining serious head injuries in a crash at Suzuka the previous October. His car struck a recovery vehicle in a run-off area after he spun off the track in wet conditions.Leclerc was a childhood friend of Bianchi, who was seven years older than him. Both became members of Ferrari’s Driver Academy and Bianchi was believed to be in line for promotion to the team prior to his crash.
In a social media post Leclerc said he is wearing “a special helmet in memory of a very special person for me” this weekend.
Leclerc previously incorporated Bianchi’s helmet design into his at the 2019 Monaco Grand Prix.
Bianchi’s fellow French racer Pierre Gasly said he “will always be remembered for who he was, obviously as a driver, but also just as a human being.
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“He was extremely kind. It was an example for a lot of drivers, but especially in France. I remember when we were in the French team, all young drivers with Antoine [Hubert], Esteban [Ocon], and many other young kids that we obviously looked up to him as the next big thing in Formula 1 because everyone, I think, agrees that he would eventually make it to Ferrari.
Max Verstappen, who made his debut as an F1 driver the weekend Bianchi crashed, said he “would have achieved incredible things in Formula 1, I think everyone was pretty sure about that.”
“That was a very bad day for everyone, the sport, of course. But I think we also, again, learned a lot about safety that day.
“Unfortunately, it seems like sometimes these kind of things need to happen for safety to improve. It’s of course not what you like to see, but that’s how it seems to work in life.
“But I do find it nice as well that he will always be remembered. There are things in his name, charities, like the go-kart races his dad also still organises to always remember his name because he definitely deserves that.”
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2024 Japanese Grand Prix
- “Am I in a race here or what?”: How Ferrari aced their Suzuka strategies
- Suzuka showed Mercedes “have a more stable platform” now
- Ferrari’s strategy gains in 2024 are “purely down to the car” – Sainz
- Tsunoda ‘at Verstappen and Alonso’s level’ with Suzuka performance – Marko
- Japan was first race where Red Bull’s winning margin was bigger than last year
floodo1 (@floodo1)
4th April 2024, 17:26
RIP
Jere (@jerejj)
4th April 2024, 17:27
Good sign of respect.
Adrian Hancox (@ahxshades)
4th April 2024, 18:20
Simply stunned that its 10 years already – seems so much more recent. Beautiful way to pay his respects.
Dane
5th April 2024, 10:17
Also that it’s been a decade since Verstappen’s first F1 session!
MichaelN
4th April 2024, 20:04
No, just no. People had been warning about this danger for years. Liuzzi all but hit a crane in 2007 at the Nürburgring, albeit it at much lower speeds. Every time race director Whiting decided he ‘knew best’, and ignored it. He even, at the start of the 2014 season, codified the amount of time drivers needed to slow down in case of double yellows. Which he declared were mere tenths at best. That’s double yellows, which are used when marshals, cars and recovery vehicles are on track!
The FIA report about Bianchi’s crash is still infuriating to think about, never mind read. After over a decade of letting yellow flag observance deteriorate, they had the nerve to shift nearly all the blame for the outcome on a young rookie.
montreal95 (@montreal95)
5th April 2024, 1:19
I don’t think Max disagrees with you. Everything you said about this issue is true. However I think he merely points out, it’s unfortunately how human nature works. This is not an opinion it’s a fact. I work in the field of safety and security and I encounter this issue on a scarily regular basis. It’s not just an F1 problem it’s humankind problem. Unless a tragedy happens no one’s in any hurry to change stuff. I hope that we evolve from this type of primitive thinking someday soon, but evidently we haven’t yet.
MattDS (@mattds)
5th April 2024, 9:40
It was 0.5s per mini-sector, which means (with 20 mini-sectors per lap back then if memory serves) that we’re talking about 10s per lap.
That is significant in itself, but it’s also important to reflect on why this was introduced. This wasn’t meant to say “if you slow down by 0.5s per mini sector that is enough”, this was meant to say “if you DON’T slow down by 0.5s per mini sector, we will punish you”.
What this directive never did was cancel the specific section in the regulations about flags that still mandated the drivers to “slow down significantly and be ready to come to a full stop on track” in case of double waved yellows.
While obviously F1 has learned from the incident and have taken measures so this cannot happen anymore (technically – we still saw a rescue crane on track together with drivers in Suzuka 2022), there was and still is a definite responsibility to adhere to the flags and their meaning, and Jules, sadly, was going too fast given the conditions, situation and flags.
ferrox glideh (@ferrox-glideh)
4th April 2024, 20:44
I imagine that Leclerc has repeatedly dwelt upon what could have been achieved at Ferrari if he had arrived under the guidance of Bianchi as a teammate. It would have been a beautiful thing. RIP Jules.