On 5 October 2014, Jules Bianchi suffered a horrific accident at the Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix, passing away from his injuries in July 2015. Ten years later, his legacy lives on through the motorsport projects related to the Association Jules Bianchi, created in his memory.

By Perceval Wolff-Taffus

In the last 12 months, the Association Jules Bianchi – created by Jules’ father, Philippe Bianchi – has made headlines several times. A karting competition in the port of Nice to discover young drivers, a karting marathon won by Charles Leclerc’s team, and support for Feed Racing finalist Elio Saintpaul were some of the latest projects of the association, which still keeps contact with the world of junior single-seaters after nearly a decade.

“With Jules, we wanted to support young drivers together,” Philippe Bianchi told Feeder Series. “Jules’ career was never easy. We were not billionaires. Jules got a lot of luck. He was talented, and we met the right people at the right time that brought him up to F1. That’s why we always wanted to support young drivers. The idea was there.”

“Then the tragedy happened, so that was not on the table anymore for several years. But it was still in my head. We help the L’Archet hospital [in Nice], we do tons of other things, but I really wanted to support young talented drivers that could make me think about Jules.

“Of course, Jules is unique and everyone is unique, so there is no comparison to do. We often see people comparing Charles [Leclerc] to Jules, but Charles is Charles and Jules is Jules.”

Partnering with Feed Racing

In 2023, the Association Jules Bianchi announced the start of a collaboration with Jacques Villeneuve and Patrick Lemarié’s racing school, Feed Racing.

This came as somewhat of a surprise. The Bianchi family had been partnered with Richard Mille, which also organises its own annual competition for young prospects in the autumn.

“We have strong links with Richard Mille, All Road [Management] and Nicolas Todt. I talked about it to Nicolas but there is a mode of selection of their drivers, they take international karting drivers. So for example, Elio Saintpaul didn’t meet the criteria because he didn’t have the budget to race abroad.”

“It’s Feed Racing who came to me. They told me they were helping young talents, they knew I wanted to too, so we tried to put something together,” he continued. “Lemarié, Villeneuve, they have created something wonderful from scratch. It’s a real racing school that allows drivers to show themselves. This is an association we want to renew every year.”

“Talent is worth money”

After having a short racing career of his own and standing alongside his son for so many years, Bianchi has taken on a new role with young drivers such as Saintpaul. 

“I don’t have the pretension to give advice on racing. At such a high level, it’s only about details, and now we have so much data with telemetry that helps the drivers to progress,” Bianchi said.

“The difference, where the driver makes the difference, is on a mental point of view. Drivers who go fast, there are tons of them. But only some of them are capable of handling the pressure, while others will have more struggles.”

As a father, Bianchi had to help his son whilst lacking funds in the 2000s. Is it more difficult today for young drivers like those he supports to arrive in motorsport with a tight budget?

“Absolutely not,” he answered. “Talent is worth money, it’s obvious. Of course, it’s always much better when you have money, but if a driver really has an enormous talent, we will be able to do things. They will get noticed, as Jules did, as Charles also did. Charles followed the same path as Jules and we helped him in doing so.”

The winner of the Volant Jules Bianchi in electric karts in the port of Nice last year, 10-year-old Lina Salamanca, gained the support of the association. Following her win, she was chosen for this year’s Champions of the Future Academy Program in the Mini category.

“Some people have decided for her she would go to this championship, but she probably lacked experience,” Bianchi said. “It was probably a bit too ambitious for her, but she is progressing. She has a real talent, but we will see in the future. She is only 10 years old.

“What would be ideal would be for us to have solid sponsors, partners who would follow the drivers for several years, but I don’t have the funds for that, and in karting, the seasons are really long.”

Carrying on Jules’ legacy

The Association Jules Bianchi operates far beyond motorsport too.

“It is our only way to make Jules exist today. When Jules came back from Japan in the coma, he was hospitalised in Nice in the L’Archet hospital, in the brain injury department. Everyone in the department was just wonderful with him. When Jules passed away, we realised there were so many things to do in this hospital,” Bianchi said.

“Jules was famous, loved, handsome, nice … the luck we had in our misfortune is that Jules was publicised. I meet too many people mourning after the loss of their child who don’t have our luck.

“We always have to see the positive side. It is quite paradoxical, I have to say. For us, the positive side is to be able to make Jules live through our actions with the association. Jules is still active. That’s the magic side of everything.

“For example, there was the karting marathon [8–10 September]. There was so much love, so many strong moments. People have been sharing their passion. We made them dream. We made them happy. Of course, they were some stars from racing or from other worlds, but there were so many parents sharing something with their child in their team.

“All these people were all united around Jules. It was a true moment of happiness and sharing. It’s thanks to all these people, to Charles, to Richard Mille, that we are able to live these moments.”

“We gathered €50,000 for the association on one single weekend. It directly went for a new device for the L’Archet hospital to help to wash bedridden patients in optimal comfort. Before that, we had bought a driving simulator to reacclimatise people to driving,” Bianchi continued.

“It would have been Jules’s will: to do these good deeds, to support young drivers, to spread love and joy.”

Header photo credit: Gil Leon