Inside Motorsports Vol. 1 2018/Q1 - Part I | Page 26

Road t o cl osed cockpit : The
deat h of j ul es bianchi
20 year s af t er Ayr t on Senna's deat h, F1 became
much saf er , t han ever bef or e, and despi t e t hat
Jul es Bi anchi r an out of l uck, when on t he
sl i pper y t ar mac of Suzuka, he r an out of t he
t r ack at t he Dunl op cor ner and hi t t he cr ane,
t hat t r i ed t o r escue t he pr evi ousl y cr ashed
S auber of Adr i an Sut i l . Hi s head had t o
encount er ar ound 90G f or ce f or a spl i t second,
and despi t e t he hel met devel opment s of t he
r ecent year s, hi s hel met was not abl e t o absor b
t he huge ener gy of t he car s. Bi anchi was
r escued i mmedi at el y, and was put i nt o
ar t i f i cal coma af t er many l i f e savi ng
oper at i ons. For t he next year he f ought f or hi s
l i f e, but f i nal l y Deat h t ook hi m as wel l . F1
l ost an i ncr edi bl e t al ent , and j ust af t er t he
cr ash, an i nt ense debat e st ar t ed over how t o
devel op saf et y i n F1, and avoi d si t uat i ons l i ke
t hi s i n t he f ut ur e. Vi r t ual Saf et y car was an
i mmedi at e and so f ar r eal l y ef f ect i ve choi ce t o
avoi d hi gh speed by r ul es i n pot ent i al l y
danger ous scenar i os.
Jul es Bianchi (1989-2014)