Grand Prix Rejects

Truly a sad day for motorsport, a young talented driver, tragically taken too soon. I sent my thoughts to his family.

CoopsII wrote:

Spectoremg wrote:http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/33594859
I think 'what-if' sensational speculation stories are disrespectful in the circumstances.

It's only a report on comments made by di Montezemelo, and positive comments at that. We've got an entire thread devoted to 'what-if's and a good chunk of it are questions about 'what if this dead driver had lived?'

So it's alright if the comments are positive? I disagree, and let's get real about this; it's very likely that Jules was part of a long list.

Personally, I just didn't think the story was particularly sensational or speculative. Bianchi was a Ferrari academy driver so him potentially ending up there should surprise no one. And, as you yourself point out, Ferrari have their eye on several young drivers, like most teams.

So if the comments are telling us all what we already more or less knew then where is the lack of respect?

Mad props to the FIA for retiring his number. While I personally think "owned" numbers are silly, once the policy was put in place it was his number, and great job FIA making it that way permanently.

And I don't Luca was being sensational at all, Marussia got a big discount on motors for running Jules, why else, if not to get him ready for Ferrari?

CoopsII wrote:Personally, I just didn't think the story was particularly sensational or speculative. Bianchi was a Ferrari academy driver so him potentially ending up there should surprise no one. And, as you yourself point out, Ferrari have their eye on several young drivers, like most teams.

So if the comments are telling us all what we already more or less knew then where is the lack of respect?

Poor timing and possibly attention seeking.

I have seen the pictures of his funeral now and it's even more galling now, the realization that he's really dead and is never coming back. The past 4 days have felt like a bad nightmare, it's so surreal still It's going to be surreal to watch the drivers paying their respects on the grid at Hungaroring too.

Spectoremg wrote:

CoopsII wrote:Personally, I just didn't think the story was particularly sensational or speculative. Bianchi was a Ferrari academy driver so him potentially ending up there should surprise no one. And, as you yourself point out, Ferrari have their eye on several young drivers, like most teams.

So if the comments are telling us all what we already more or less knew then where is the lack of respect?

Poor timing and possibly attention seeking.

How is it poor timing? If anything, this is the best possible time to mention something like that. Sure, it's a fairly self-explanatory thing - doesn't mean that it goes without saying, especially considering that this is Ferrari and F1 that we're talking about.

Im not really in the mood for Formula 1 this weekend....

can I propose that we just have the discussion thread and not the Predicament, IDOTR or Reject of the race(likely to be McLaren anyway)

Jules loved racing and I doubt he wanted F1 or any motorsport to stop just for him or people to stop watching. It's like Hughes (which was worse for me) he would loved all the fans of the sport he gave his life to, to support and press on.

All I gathered from this is that the motorsport community is a tight knit one that will always support each other.

Salamander wrote:

Spectoremg wrote:

CoopsII wrote:Personally, I just didn't think the story was particularly sensational or speculative. Bianchi was a Ferrari academy driver so him potentially ending up there should surprise no one. And, as you yourself point out, Ferrari have their eye on several young drivers, like most teams.

So if the comments are telling us all what we already more or less knew then where is the lack of respect?

Poor timing and possibly attention seeking.

How is it poor timing? If anything, this is the best possible time to mention something like that. Sure, it's a fairly self-explanatory thing - doesn't mean that it goes without saying, especially considering that this is Ferrari and F1 that we're talking about.

Were you aware of this before Tuesday? I wasn't. I just think it's poor timing. And it's just an opinion.

Spectoremg wrote:Were you aware of this before Tuesday? I wasn't. I just think it's poor timing. And it's just an opinion.

Even before his accident it was being strongly suggested that Jules was going to replace Kimi at Ferrari sooner or later. What Luca said seems to confirm those rumours.

RIP Jules. A very sad time for F1. I was going to make a tribute video and put it on YouTube but the audio wouldn't work so I had to scrap it.

I'm still really struggling to take it all in to be honest. And I say that as someone old enough to have experienced seeing death in F1 previous to this.

That MiniDrivers video where Bianchi is racing Senna in heaven is one of the most moving things I've ever seen, not to mention nearly all the current grid at the funeral.

Just coming up to pay my respects. RIP Jules.

As for the speculations about Jules and Ferrari: I sharply remember reading a short interview with him, the Thursday before the Japanese GP, on his chances to move up (at the time there was a lot of speculation, with Alonso trying to leave and Vettel still unconfirmed). He basically said what you'd expect, that it would be great to drive for Ferrari but that he wasn't paying attention to it and was focused on Marussia. It must be somewhere in Autosport.

He was more than simply someone in Ferrari's list, that's for sure.

EDIT: and here it is: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/116115 The details weren't exactly as I remembered them, but the date was spot on.

Jules was in the Thursday press conference at Suzuka:



This was the question he received from the floor (by Anne Giuntini – l’Equipe)

Question to Jules. Considering the many rumours developing at the moment, if it would occur that a seat would become available – vacant – at Ferrari, would you feel ready to go there? And why?


JBi: Well, yes of course I feel ready. I have been working for that since I’m in the Academy, end of 2009. So, now I did nearly two seasons in Formula One. I think I have good experience and I feel ready for that, for sure. It looks like the logical step for me if something happens like this. Obviously at the moment both drivers have a contract so it’s not the question but if there is the opportunity I feel it would be good for me and I feel good.

Waris wrote:I have seen the pictures of his funeral now and it's even more galling now, the realization that he's really dead and is never coming back. The past 4 days have felt like a bad nightmare, it's so surreal still It's going to be surreal to watch the drivers paying their respects on the grid at Hungaroring too.

Whilst it has been rather moving to see how the rest of the paddock has really rallied round Bianchi's family, nevertheless I cannot deny that I had hoped that the sight of the other drivers paying their respects to one of their brethren was something that I would never have to witness first hand. It still feels somewhat incomprehensible to lose such a promising young driver, though it is at least touching to see how the rest of the motorsport world has rallied around Bianchi's family and have chosen to celebrate his career.

mario wrote:

Waris wrote:I have seen the pictures of his funeral now and it's even more galling now, the realization that he's really dead and is never coming back. The past 4 days have felt like a bad nightmare, it's so surreal still It's going to be surreal to watch the drivers paying their respects on the grid at Hungaroring too.

Whilst it has been rather moving to see how the rest of the paddock has really rallied round Bianchi's family, nevertheless I cannot deny that I had hoped that the sight of the other drivers paying their respects to one of their brethren was something that I would never have to witness first hand. It still feels somewhat incomprehensible to lose such a promising young driver, though it is at least touching to see how the rest of the motorsport world has rallied around Bianchi's family and have chosen to celebrate his career.

Yes, I agree with you. I'm still coming to terms with the fact that I, who always thought I would never see a driver die in a deadly accident, have now witnessed exactly this. There is no going back now. I started watching F1 in 1998, 4 years after the deaths of Senna and Ratzenberger, so the possibility was always kind of there in the background, but I always thought F1 has gotten so much safer since, it's so unlikely, it couldn't happen, could it...? Now it has really, really happened and F1 will always feel different.

Although I must say, because of the nature of what happened after Bianchi's death, this is a different (and more surreal) case than all other driver deaths in F1, because he didn't have the accident and die right away and was buried by the next Grand Prix. I guess in a way you could say we had the last 9 months to prepare us for what was coming. This afternoon when I watched the minute of silence and the drivers paying their respects to the family, for a brief moment I thought "so this is what the 1994 Monaco Grand Prix must've been like" but then immediately I realized: no, it's different, in that case a driver had the accident and died two weeks ago, it's still so close in everyone's memory, and in this case he died this week but the accident was 9 months ago, the whole memory of it happening is so much more distant. Doesn't make it any less bad, of course, but it's a different feeling if you see what I'm saying.

(which brings to mind the question: when is an accident a fatal accident? The only case I can remember that was similar to this one was that of Peterson, and he died the next day, so not exactly 9 months later. Wikipedia and STATS F1 are in agreement that Bianchi's accident classifies as a "Fatal accident", which arguably it was, but in my mind it's still kind of odd since he didn't die until the next year. Anyway I suppose this is all academical now, because in hindsight, as has already been mentioned, he's been practically gone from us since the moment it happened. )

Waris wrote:(which brings to mind the question: when is an accident a fatal accident? The only case I can remember that was similar to this one was that of Peterson, and he died the next day, so not exactly 9 months later.)

That is indeed a question that merits being asked, although since Jules did die directly of injuries due to the accident, there is no doubt that it was a fatal accident. The reason I might hesitate to label Peterson's death as one is that he didn't die directly of his injuries, but rather complications due to medical negligence.

As for extended periods of time between a fatal accident and the driver's actual death, Lorenzo Bandini died three days after his crash, Stuart Lewis-Evans six days, and John Taylor about a month later. And in NASCAR, there have been waits of multiple years before drivers were declared dead, notably Rick Baldwin and Bruce Jacobi.

tommykl wrote:

Waris wrote:(which brings to mind the question: when is an accident a fatal accident? The only case I can remember that was similar to this one was that of Peterson, and he died the next day, so not exactly 9 months later.)

That is indeed a question that merits being asked, although since Jules did die directly of injuries due to the accident, there is no doubt that it was a fatal accident. The reason I might hesitate to label Peterson's death as one is that he didn't die directly of his injuries, but rather complications due to medical negligence.

As for extended periods of time between a fatal accident and the driver's actual death, Lorenzo Bandini died three days after his crash, Stuart Lewis-Evans six days, and John Taylor about a month later. And in NASCAR, there have been waits of multiple years before drivers were declared dead, notably Rick Baldwin and Bruce Jacobi.

It would be fair to say that Peterson was receiving medical treatment for injuries he got from the crash so....

tommykl wrote:As for extended periods of time between a fatal accident and the driver's actual death, Lorenzo Bandini died three days after his crash, Stuart Lewis-Evans six days, and John Taylor about a month later. And in NASCAR, there have been waits of multiple years before drivers were declared dead, notably Rick Baldwin and Bruce Jacobi.

Wow, Rick Baldwin died 11 YEARS after his accident... and according to Wikipedia, it's still considered to be "the first driver death in the history of Michigan International Speedway".
So, I guess any accident that a driver dies as a result from, is considered a fatal accident in motorsports terms, even if the driver doesn't die in the actual accident. I guess that answers my question then. Thank you.