Jules Bianchi, 10 years on: how his father Philippe fights for his memory

On July 17, 2015, Jules Bianchi died following an accident, after spending nine months in a coma. Since then, his father Philippe has continued the racing driver’s fight, through the association that bears his son’s name.

A family marked by grief. On October 5, 2014, the lives of those close to Jules Bianchi changed forever. And for good reason: the 25-year-old racing driver was involved in a serious accident during the Japanese Grand Prix. After losing control of his single-seater, which was travelling at over 200 km/h, the rising Formula 1 star was placed in a coma for over nine months. On July 17, 2015, he died as a result of his injuries, leaving behind his grieving family and friends. Since his passing, his father Philippe Bianchi has fought to honor his memory, but also to continue his fight. “When he passed away, his mother and sister and I said to ourselves that we had to do something. We thought about what he would have liked,” says the father of the family, in an interview with the Minute-Auto website, relayed by Le Figaro in 2016.

In Monaco, the man who is also active in the world of karting has set up an association named after his late son. “My aim is to get four youngsters racing on JB#17 chassis – two in mini-karts and two in international competition – and to support them, giving them the benefit of our experience (…) For us, it would be a bit like Jules returning to the highest level of motorsport, as they would still be wearing his colors. It would be a great nod,” he confided at the time. As the Auto Hebdo website explains, the Jules Bianchi association “aims to collaborate with the UCSL department (care units for heavy brain-injured patients) in Nice”, the unit where the deceased racing driver was repatriated after starting his battle in Japan, which it helps “by offering equipment, but also moral support, which is essential for hospitalized people as well as their loved ones.”

Jules Bianchi: the other racing driver whose life he “saved

In the wake of this tragedy, the automakers took drastic measures to ensure the safety of their drivers. Former French racer Romain Grosjean even confessed to having miraculously escaped his impressive accident, “thanks” to the driver who died in 2015. Trapped by flames on November 29, 2020, Marion Jollès’ husband was able to get out of his car with only a few burns to his hands.

The racing driver owes his salvation in particular to the safety halo introduced on all Formula 1 single-seaters since 2018. “Jules (Bianchi) saved my life. Without Jules’ accident, there would probably have been no halo. And without a halo, no more Romain Grosjean. Guillotined like a king! I’ve seen death up close, and it’s a feeling I wouldn’t wish on anyone. It will change my life forever,” the driver told L’Équipe in 2020.

Source Article : https://www.gala.fr/l_actu/news_de_stars/jules-bianchi-10-ans-deja-comment-son-pere-philippe-se-bat-pour-sa-memoire-20250717