🇫🇷 Jules Bianchi

Jules Bianchi was a French single-seater driver who competed across the ladder from Formula Renault to Formula 1 between 2007 and 2014, accumulating 117 starts across eight seasons. His Racer Rating of 6,712 places him among elite professionals; he was a race winner at the top level of the feeder series and competed regularly among established professional drivers. His career centred on three seasons in the junior categories, where he won championships and accumulated wins, before a two-year spell in Formula 1 that yielded no points finishes.[1]

Bianchi's signature achievement was the 2009 Formula 3 Euro Series championship, won with ART Grand Prix after a strong 2008 campaign in the same series. He accumulated 11 wins and 19 podiums across his two seasons in that championship, establishing himself as a front-runner among an elite field that included future Formula 1 drivers Nico Hülkenberg, Romain Grosjean and Valtteri Bottas. Against Bottas in particular he compiled a strong head-to-head record, finishing ahead in 30 of their 42 shared races; he also beat Grosjean in 31 of 42 meetings. His performance across the feeder ladder was consistent: in GP2 Series, where he spent two seasons from 2010 to 2011, he finished runner-up in the 2011 standings with one win and ten podiums from 29 starts; in Formula V8 3.5, a single-seater series, he won three races and took eight podiums from 15 starts in 2012. Across all these categories he beat established professionals including Daniel Ricciardo, Sergio Perez and Nico Hülkenberg on occasion, though never compiled a pattern against drivers of their ultimate calibre.[2]

Bianchi made 34 Formula 1 starts across 2013 and 2014 for Marussia, a team then at the rear of the grid, and did not score a point. His average finish across all racing was P9.1. He is now retired from racing.