It has been reported that Formula One (F1) will hold a minute of silence for Bianchi ahead of Sunday’s Pirelli Hungarian Grand Prix.
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Bernie Ecclestone said danger will always be a part of Formula 1 as the shocked sport came to terms with the death of Frenchman Jules Bianchi.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the wonderful Bianchi family, who have remained so strong for Jules throughout the past nine months“. Gone too soon, Jules Bianchi died on July 17.
One showed Bianchi aged 4, driving a toy go-kart, a look of fixed concentration on his face, and another with proud father and son together after a junior karting race. He became the first F1 recruit of the Ferrari Driver Academy and was confirmed as the team’s test and reserve driver for the 2011 season. He scored the team’s only points in five seasons of trying.
Move on to October, 2014, when the Japanese Grand Prix was run at the famous Suzuka circuit near Nagoya. Typhoon Phanfone was approaching.
“They have 20 races a year, so you see how many accidents there are”. He was treated at trackside before being taken by ambulance to the course Medical Center. His condition was stable enough that he was transported from Japan to University Hospital of Lausanne in Switzerland.
With Raikkonen’s Ferrari contract expiring this year, speculation is rife as to who could replace him should the Scuderia decide not to offer the 35 year old a deal.
Since then, other formulas have had major and fatal accidents at some sort, but not formula one. It neutralises a race with electronic boards telling drivers to slow down and limits them to a specific speed.
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President Hollande said in a statement: “French motorsport has lost one of its great young talents”. In commemorating Jules, surely our efforts are better used to this end rather than in staking a claim to a legacy of what-ifs. “What happened was just tragic”, he said.
