Philippe, the father of Jules Bianchi, has sent his very own style of Christmas message to the Place de Concorde. In an interview with AutoHebdo he reveals the Bianchi family will be suing the FIA for culpability in the death of his son Jules.
TJ13 reported earlier this year that the Bianchi family were reserving the right to take this course of action FIA MAY YET FACE A LAW SUIT OVER JULES BIANCHI
“The conclusions of [the FIA’s internal] investigation were shocking. How can the people conducting the investigation be the same people who were being investigated?”, Philippe demands. “Is this not a conflict of interest?”
Bianchi believes the investigation failed to ask the right questions of certain individuals and therefore its conclusions are invalid. He again demands those responsible are held to proper account.
Jules’ father states, “We have lost Jules, and can not bring him back. So I have nothing to lose. We have only the memories of him and the respect we should show him all. So I will continue to fight with all my strength for him.”
When asked whether there were grounds for legal action against the FIA and individual officers, Philippe was emphatic in his reply: “Yes. My lawyers are taking care of it. “
TJ13 compiled a timeline and report of the events soon after the terrible accident which revealed certain shocking details of the on track operations that day in Suzuka Putting the pieces together: part 1
It became quickly apparent following the FIA’s report that certain key issues were not addressed. There was a lot of discussion in the media during the week before the Japanese GP, about the race being brought forward and Charlie Whiting apparently requested this happen twice. Why was he refused?
There were a number of other matters the FIA chose not to address, not least why their own regulations were not enforced pertaining to the use of the medical helicopter and the maximum time required for an ambulance to reach the nearest approved hospital.
Accidents do happen. Motorsports are dangerous, yet when proper procedures and protocols are blatantly ignored – lives are more likely to be lost.
From all the reports on this site on what actually happened that day, it is clear that FIA dropped the ball and still continue to do so. Unfortunately this lawsuit will not bring Jules back and I fear the FIA has more power, money and influence than the Bianchi family and the fact that the FIA said in their own investigation that it was not the FIA’s fault will precide….but I really do hope for Justice for Jules! R.I.P!
Oh this should be interesting.
The speed at which Jules hit the tractor is the greatest factor in his death. Had he been going a speed more appropriate for double-yellow flags which indicate that safety personnel and equipment may be on track he would be alive.
But that was one of the things that was discussed in the podcast. The enforcement of the double waved yellows weren’t being properly policed by race control.
They’re suppose to slow down to a speed and be prepared stop, but according to how the rule is interpreted, if a driver shows that he has lifted sufficiently off the accelerator (.500 of a second) then that’s deemed enough. But as we saw in the German Grand Prix before, Lewis and a few others even though they lifted at the last corner for JeV’s parked Torro Rosso, were still coming round the corner at break neck speeds.
So I think had the double waved yellows been policed more forcefully, then he probably wouldn’t have been traveling at the speeds he was.
I think from a ‘rule of law perspective’ the point is not if a rule is policed neither what others do or did.
Justice is a whole other thing. But I think it will be a hard case.
Their failure to police their own rules is the key, for mine.
In the heavy industrial sector (where I work) “failure to provide a safe operating environment” is a very common finding against employers – it is ALL about policing / enforcement of a suite of appropriate rules and regulations.
I hope Jules’ family don’t run out of money in pursuing their case. I get a feeling it will eventually be settled-out-of-court-for-an-undisclosed-sum.
As an aside, one wonders how the situation has escaped deeper scrutiny by the Japanese authorities.
Interesting, thanks for that.
I think the Bianchi family is wealthy, but I hope they have a laywer IN the family, I think that’s their only possibility unless they find someone interested in the case / justice / publicity.
But I fear for this case, due to F1’s complex contracts and thus complex liabilities. They will hide behind words and nobody will be blamed. I think the frase “motorsport is dangerous” will be heard a lot during a trial.
I don’t suppose the Bianchi family are happy with the FIA report but what can they do apart from have someone go over all the statements and other evidence. I cant see any other logical conclusion that the one the FIA arrived at given that all cars were supposed to have slowed down. When i used to watch racing at Mallory, Brands and Silverstone the tickets stated motor racing is dangerous and thst you were there at you own risk. Danger for drivers is much higher and they accept it. Life isn’t fair and risky stuff can kill.
I don’t know what the law says in the UK or in Japan but here in Australia some form of “negligence” would be the point of contention in this kind of case.
Down here, all the disclaimers in the world (signed and accepted or not) aren’t worth squat if an organisation or individual who should have known better did wrong, intentionally or otherwise.
For mine, I see “F1” having an interesting time arguing that they can say (through their report into the incident) that the drivers were driving too fast but then somehow deny responsibility for that speed given that the race occurs under their singular jurisdiction in what is supposed to be a tightly-controlled environment.
Does anyone have any idea where this action is to be argued? Japan? France?
with the greatest of possible respect to the family and all involved… was he a professional racing driver? yes. was he driving too fast for the conditions, whilst ignoring a double yellow waved flag? yes. was he able to slow down and stop (which is the point of a double waved yellow)? obviously not.
he was not a child, and made his own choice as to what speed he travelled at. with no system the race contral can deploy to enforce speed, its at the discretion of the driver.
i dont see how the blame can be appointed anywhere other than with the driver.
It’s easy and indeed true to say it’s the driver’s fault if driving too fast under double waved yellows. However if that rule is not being policed and other drivers are exceeding the mandated speed without penalty then that is creating pressure on every other driver to do the same or suffer disadvantage, a pressure which ought not to be there if FIA were doing their job properly.
FIA put him in a position where he had to choose between risk and losing position. It’s easy to say with hindsight that he made the wrong choice but he should never had been in the position of having to make it in the first place.
If the FIA punish you for respecting the rules and other drivers crash on you for being the only one respecting the rules then is not only your fault. See the documentary Alonso made for the Spanish TV in he last race weekend for Ferrari, he says safety meetings with Whiting are a farce and any driver pointing that the safety rules are not met receives a penalty that same weekend.
If the FIA punish you for respecting the rules and other drivers crash on you for being the only one respecting the rules then is not only your fault. See the documentary Alonso made for the Spanish TV in his last race weekend for Ferrari, he says safety meetings with Whiting are a farce and any driver pointing that the safety rules are not met receives a penalty that same weekend.
The sheer fact of a recovery vehicle being within track limits should have bought out the safety car, especially due to the level of rain at the time.
Other drivers were clocked going around the circuit even quicker than Bianchi was going, making it not such a cut and dry response of ‘Bianchi was driving too quick’. He still has a race to race, with other drivers not far behind and he will want to maintain the gap. Other less severe incidents throughout the season (than Sutils car leaving the circuit) resulted in the release of a safety car, I have never understood why this wasn’t the case at Japan…
Exactly – our maps show it was a mere 14 metres from the edge of the asphalt. CCTV used to check progress of tractor was not working either…
The think is racing drivers are always under pressure to go as fast as possible plus they all want to win. So a racing drivers mind is focused on one thing going fast.
It is the responsibility of the FIA to keep everyone as safe as possible. The FIA should have enforced their own rules on waved Yellow flags. Historically FIA have allowed (and not penalised) drivers to just lift off in the hazardous section. The FIA also specify exactly what safety barriers are required for a track to be suitable for F1, only approved barriers are acceptable. Then they allow cars to go round the track at virtually race speeds (just lift for 0.5 sec and you are within allowable rules) while putting a 12 Ton vehicle between the track and safety barriers in a section that has just proved to be difficult in the conditions.
Sorry but to me FIA failed to correctly risk asses the way they run the race.
This activity will be interesting to watch. my take on it, by following the GPS tracker video, appeared to show that bianchi didn’t lift at all for that final double waved yellow section. what i would like to hear are the pit to car comms as that would make interesting reading. did the team see an opportunity to gain track position and not warn bianchi of the problems?
Having Marshals working on a car 15 metres from the 175kph action, when Whiting codified the double waved yellow flags caution to mean no more than a 15% speed reduction through affected sectors was a joke.
I’m confused I keep reading about Jules going too fast thru double yellow flags, however (video link below) at the 50 second mark there is a green flag waving and a few seconds later, with that green flag still waving, is when the accident happens.
http://youtu.be/KsYupEAE954
Doesn’t that green flag signal the race is back on and therefore explain Jules speed?
The green flag is in the post immediately after the crane, it means from that point on they can go back to racing speed. It’s a normal mistake of some viewers to believe that the track is green as soon as you see the flag but it’s as soon as you pass the position of the flag.
Pingback: Will there be a Suzuka cancellation? | thejudge13·