Jalopnik’s Black Flag section is reporting that Marussia F1 driver Jules Bianchi, the up-and-coming driver who was responsible for Marussia’s only season points to date and a Ferrari Academy driver, has succumbed to injuries that he sustained at the typhoon-soaked Japanese Grand Prix on October 5, 2014, according to a family statement posted to Facebook. He was 25 years old. Bianchi had been unconscious ever since the accident, where he lost control of his car and crashed into a tractor that was clearing up the accident scene of Adrian Sutil’s race car. He was transported immediately to Mie University Hospital for emergency work. Bianchi had suffered a diffuse axonal injury which had left him comatose. Although his condition improved enough to be moved to Nice, France, he remained in an unconscious state until the end. Bianchi is the first F1 driver to die in a Grand Prix weekend since Ayrton Senna in 1994.
Motorsports racing will always have an edge of risk involved, regardless of type, regardless of speed. Those who are lucky enough to compete know and accept those risks, and do so for the love of the race. May you rest in peace, Jules.
Jules Bianchi
August 3, 1989 – July 17, 2015
