Charles Leclerc pays tribute to Jules Bianchi, friend and mentor

Jules Bianchi died seven years ago, on July 17, 2015, although his death had been pre-determined a few months earlier, when he suffered an accident in October 2014 and suffered serious head injuries, in fact incompatible with life.

It was that incident on lap 43 of the Japanese Grand Prix that subsequently led to the introduction of Halo into Formula 1, an effective frontal head protection system for the driver. Since then Halo has saved many, suffice to recall the recent very dramatic incident Guanyu Zhou faced at the start of the race at Silverstone.

Bianchi has been in Formula 1 since 2013 as part of the Russian Marussia team, whose cars weren’t very fast, and this is still an understatement, but the French driver was still able to earn points in Monaco in 2014. This was a confirmation of his outstanding talent, which had long been noticed in Maranello: Jules was a student of the Ferrari Racing Academy and more plans were linked with him in the Scuderia.

Bianchi was Charles Leclerc’s best friend and last year the Ferrari driver said in an interview: “I miss my father and Jules Bianchi. I race for them too and I hope they would be proud of me. But they are not there more and I have not only lost their love I really miss the important advice they gave me Vader and Jules are the people I turned to when I was at a crossroads in my career or in my personal life But they have never seen me in a Ferrari.”

In memory of his friend and mentor, Charles posted an old photo on his pages on social networks, dating back to the time when he was karting. It depicts him and Jules Bianchi, and the caption is, “Seven years have passed since you left…”

Not forgetting today’s sad date, the Ferrari Racing Academy also published photos of Jules and a short note: “Forever in our hearts.”