Jules Bianchi’s mechanics confronting the injustice of his death
Now a Red Bull ambassador, Calum Nicholas spent more than ten years as a Formula 1 mechanic, notably working on Max Verstappen’s car. But before joining the Milton Keynes team, he discovered Formula 1 at Marussia, a small outfit trying to survive in the early 2010s.
The team ultimately disappeared in 2015, financially drained and shaken, among other reasons, by the death of Jules Bianchi following his accident at Suzuka in 2014. For Calum Nicholas, it was a shock, as he had been alongside the French driver during that tragic Japanese Grand Prix.
“There is an acceptance that there is always that risk when you do something like motor racing,” he confided on Kristen Holmes’ podcast The Line. “It was something difficult to swallow. It always feels unfair, and for me, at 22 or 23 years old at the time, it was the fact that I had built a race car, that a guy got in it, and that he lost his life.”
“I know there was no issue with the car, there was no issue with what I did. But in the end, my technical team and I carry that kind of responsibility, and I think at just over twenty years old, it was difficult to face at that time.”
The impossibility of stepping back immediately
Calum Nicholas recalls very strange feelings, caught between the brutal reality that had just hit him and the grand circus of Formula 1, which, despite the tragedy, continued to sweep him along.
“There was also this thing where everything just keeps going without stopping,” he described. “We had that accident in Japan. F1 doesn’t stop for this. The following week, we went straight to Russia. You didn’t even have time to process what had happened, to take a moment… straight to the next race.”
“Two days after the accident, you’re already back in the garage trying to rebuild a car. You had no time at all to take it in, to reflect on everything. That was probably one of the hardest aspects. In hindsight, it was also one of the things that made me understand the value of a team, because collectively, we were incredible in supporting each other during that period. It takes time to fully appreciate these things later. It was a difficult period.”
