Today the Motorsport world awoke to the news that Formula One driver, Jules Bianchi had passed away during the night following his serious accident at the Suzuka circuit, during the Japanese Grand Prix on the 5th October 2014. He was just 25 years old.

He had remained in a coma since suffering severe head injuries when his Marussia F1 car (the team now known as Manor F1)  struck a recovery vehicle during the rain-hit race. He suffered a diffuse axonal injury as a result of his helmet becoming lodged underneath the tractor crane when his car left the track and slid underneath it. This type of injury is caused by a severe blow to the head, with damage caused as the brain moves within the skull. It is a serious injury which very often has fatal or life changing consequences – as seen in Bianchi’s case.

Jules is the first active F1 driver to have been killed due to injuries suffered during a race since Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger both passed away in tragic circumstances during the weekend of the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, 21 years ago. Maria de Villota died in October 2013, 14 months after life changing injuries caused by crashing while involved in straight-line testing for Marussia. Three more drivers, John Dawson-Damer, Friedrich “Fritz” Glatz and Denis Welch, have been killed while driving historic Formula One cars during this time.

Coming from a racing family, Jules was the second member of his family to have competed in Formula One, his great-Uncle Lucien having started 17 Grand Prix races, with his best result a third in the 1968 Monaco Grand Prix – however they would never have had a chance to swop stories – tragically Lucien was killed when his Alfa Romeo T33 crashed during Le Mans testing the year after his Monaco success.

While each of us has our own memories of Jules Bianchi, it is Tony DiZinno, NBC Sports Motorsports Talk reporter who sums the wider sense of loss up perfectly in his article;

“Death in racing is always a hard thing to swallow, no matter the driver or individual involved, no matter the age.

Yet it’s when drivers are taken before they have the opportunity to reach the zenith of their potential that the hurt cuts deeper.”

“Motorsport is Dangerous” – whether we work in the industry, or are just an interested spectator, we can’t fail to see the signs that repeat this incessantly; around the circuit, on websites, programmes, tickets… The list of locations is endless. Perhaps we tell ourselves that it’s no longer as dangerous as it once was, the death filled years of the past (1950’s, 1960’s and 1970’s) are long gone but whatever we say, tragic accidents can and do still occur. 

We owe it to the list of 50 or so drivers killed during F1 weekends or behind the wheel of F1 cars, and to the many, many more killed in other forms of automotive racing, to do all we can to keep our drivers, team members, officials, volunteers and spectators as safe as we possibly can. Perhaps then, we can stop adding to a list of names, the drivers who have never been able to show us what they can truely achieve on the track. Today we mourn the lost of one more bright star of Motorsport – all of those involved in Motorsport hold his family and friends in their thoughts at this sad time.