Some individuals view Marseille as a hazardous locale. There’s some legitimacy to this perception. Being a port city, it maintains numerous connections… some questionable.
Situated in the bay is the ancient French counterpart to Alcatraz, the Chateau d’If, where the celebrated Count of Monte Cristo was confined.
A perplexing array of avenues extend from the distinguished Vieux Port, the innate harbor where Grecian mariners initially disembarked nearly 3,000 years prior. Structures adjoin one another precariously, forming obscure passageways that lead to nowhere. The building fronts are an assortment of shabby, diminished grandeur and nonchalant deterioration, counterbalanced intermittently by novel constructions that emanate a type of audacious optimism.
In the inaugural sequence of The French Connection, a detective shadowing a suspect partakes in coffee at a Marseille quayside establishment – a scene currently commanded by a colossal mirror-finish awning, conceived by Sir Norman Foster – subsequently ambles up an increasingly constricted network of paved roads to the squalid Le Panier sector, where he is fatally shot at the entrance to his personal residence.
Unsurprisingly, the metropolis has evolved into the prime destination for cinematographers aspiring to depict a prompt representation of Euro-grittiness and peril. Nevertheless, this is additionally the locale that Marussia F1 newcomer Jules Bianchi designates as his secondary residence. While he formally dwells in Switzerland, he delights in investing time here, on the coastline of the region where he was nurtured.
“I believe it’s comparable to anyplace, any substantial city,” articulates Bianchi, with barely a trace of protectiveness. “There exist perilous locations where one would prefer not to venture. However, were you to journey to London… I’m uncertain precisely where, but there must be some vicinities there you wouldn’t desire to explore. One overhears narratives concerning occurrences here, but I’ve personally never witnessed anything brutal or disconcerting. Perhaps I’ve merely been fortunate, but, at this juncture, I haven’t encountered anything of that nature…”
Jules Bianchi, Marussia
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / LAT Images via Getty Images
We’re having lunch in the appreciated protection offered by the Radisson Blu hotel’s dining patio, a sophisticatedly contemporary yet unobtrusive quayside construction that refrains from overshadowing the more seasoned edifices enveloping it. In a flash, you are skipping across the exposed drain and averting the plastic seating of an unpersuasive ‘Irish’ tavern, stealing a fleeting upward glimpse into a shadowed alley illuminated merely by the flamboyant neon insignia of a skin art studio, then unexpectedly you are in 2013 European City Of Culture Marseille, replete with immaculate glass and untainted paint.
A courteous yet unyielding partition of vegetation and chrome tubing detains wanderers and peddlers of trinkets at a remove.
Bianchi, aged 24, originated in Nice yet his lineage subsequently relocated to Gap, the alpine municipality where Rui Costa triumphed in the 16th stage of this year’s centennial Tour de France, prior to settling in proximate Brignoles when Jules attained the age of 12. Papa Bianchi oversaw the indigenous go-karting circuit.
“I favor Monaco due to my associations with companions there. Furthermore, my representative [Nicolas Todt] possesses a domicile in Switzerland, rendering it accommodating for my residence there. Though I additionally find pleasure here,” Jules elucidates. “I matured in numerous locales, yet perpetually within this vicinity [Provence] – and it’s agreeable, wouldn’t you concur? You have accessibility to the maritime environment, and the mountainous terrain isn’t situated remotely: you possess all the prerequisites for enjoyment. It’s splendid.”
Analogous to his spiritual epicenter, Jules maintains a standing for potential hazard that he is endeavoring to dispel. Amass sentiments from those he has collaborated with in the junior echelons, and the input remains remarkably consistent: Jules is an astute, jovial, affable, and well-adjusted individual devoid of affectations. Additionally, rapid.
Under the stewardship of Nicolas Todt’s All Road Management, he secured the Formula 3 Euro Series in 2009 and was enlisted by the Ferrari Driver Academy. Speculation indicated that he was predestined to supersede Felipe Massa at Ferrari before long, yet once in GP2 he extended his elbows excessively frequently, and with undue haste, he had become the antecedent year’s ‘Next Big Thing’.
“Jules exhibits velocity,” a GP2 insider confided to F1 Racing, “yet he neglects to consult his reflective surfaces.”
Jules Bianchi, ART Grand Prix
Photo by: GP2 Media Service
In the former of the pair of GP2 contests supporting the 2010 Hungarian Grand Prix, Jules was involved in a seemingly innocuous mishap that might have curtailed his trajectory. Executing a sweeping maneuver around the exterior at the initial bend, he gently impacted the rear wing of Giacomo Ricci, then courageously sustained his pressure on the accelerator while recuperating from the resultant spasm. His line conveyed him across the concrete overflow region, where his audacity on the accelerator was rewarded with an abrupt spin back onto the circuit, into the direct path of approaching vehicles.
“It wasn’t excessively severe,” he conveys. “I fractured one vertebra, and another sustained – how would one express it – ‘abrasions’? I underwent a surgical intervention in Hungary, and subsequent to three weeks, we proceeded to Spa, where I resumed driving, thus I didn’t forfeit any prospects to accumulate points apart from in Hungary [having crashed out of the initial race, he was unable to commence the subsequent].
“It didn’t impair my season, however, as I nonetheless concluded in third position in the championship standings, and it signified my maiden year in GP2.
“It constituted a favorable season. Subsequent to that,” he pauses contemplatively and reconfigures his salad with his utensil. “Well, it doesn’t alter anything intrinsically, the circumstance of my experiencing this collision. I haven’t undergone any further surgical interventions, and I don’t presently experience any persistent complications with my spinal region.”
Jules Bianchi, Marussia
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / LAT Images via Getty Images
However, he encountered persistent impediments concerning his vocational avenues. Pastor Maldonado (additionally overseen by Nicolas Todt) and Sergio Perez surpassed him in 2010 and transitioned to F1, whereas Jules remained for a subsequent season of GP2, which likewise culminated in a third-place ranking. It wasn’t exceptional, though it could have transpired more negatively: by Valencia, the fourth of nine race weekends, he had secured merely a singular podium position and three retirements. He discerned that an alteration was imperative.
“Indeed, assuredly I have ameliorated,” he murmurs. “There invariably exists potential for enhancement. That inaugural year in GP2, I had merely emerged victorious in Formula 3 during the preceding year, and I aspired to replicate that triumph. Though in actuality, it’s not as straightforward as that.
“I was excessively preoccupied with attaining victory. I exhibited rapidity over a solitary circuit, maintained swiftness in the contests consistently, yet I committed errors and encountered collisions. During the subsequent year, I commenced in a similar fashion, which proved erroneous.
“I perpetuated errors and instigated collisions anew. At one juncture, I held the P15 position in the championship standings. It represented my sophomore year of racing in GP2, hence it was considerably substandard.
“Thereafter, I thoroughly reevaluated my mindset and my modus operandi during contests. I contemplated points to a substantially greater extent and diminished my emphasis on outright triumph – notwithstanding my perpetual inclination to secure victory, naturally. I undertook substantial collaboration with Ferrari concerning the psychological facets, which proved advantageous. It underwent considerable betterment.
“I experienced a favorable conclusion to the season and concluded in third position within the championship standings. Furthermore, I experienced a propitious year in World Series [by Renault] in 2012. Conceivably certain individuals persist in perceiving me as lacking certitude during contests, though I have transformed. I have substantiated my aptitude for consistency and accumulating points. It no longer constitutes an impediment; I have matured.”
Fortuitously for Jules, the secondary Ferrari seating arrangement didn’t become unoccupied at that juncture. Massa (also managed by Nicolas Todt) sustained his position – partially through merit, partially attributable to the team’s reluctance to provoke their principal driver’s animosity by instating a youthful prodigy in the number two slot. Discussions transpired with Mark Webber, ultimately proving fruitless.
Jean Todt, President, FIA, with his son Nicolas Todt
Photo by: Charles Coates / Motorsport Images
Concurrently, Jules rehabilitated his trajectory throughout 2012 with a robust campaign in World Series by Renault – anyone compelled to endure beyond a pair of years of GP2 is virtually deemed a failure insofar as F1 dignitaries are concerned, unless they are laden with sponsorship funding – and nine F1 practice excursions as Force India’s third driver.
Even antecedently, he had been unobtrusively preparing for his F1 opportunity, courtesy of the Ferrari Driver Academy.
“I initiated involvement with Ferrari toward the culmination of 2009, subsequent to securing my title in Formula 3, though it was 2010 when we genuinely commenced collaborative efforts. I was afforded the capacity to undertake substantial testing in the two-year-old vehicle, which has proven immensely invaluable given the testing constraints. It poses substantial difficulties for a youthful driver to procure the requisite experience, to acquire proficiency in maneuvering a Formula 1 automobile. Even if one is participating in GP2 or World Series, it’s not analogous.
“Hence, it represented a substantial boon for me to possess this prospect. I have labored extensively on the simulator, additionally, and undertaken mental and physical conditioning in conjunction with them. It constitutes a substantial collaborative endeavor, indeed.
“I formerly frequented it considerably more. During the preceding year, while serving as the third driver for Force India, I couldn’t proceed to their manufacturing facility and utilize their simulator on account of my utilization of the Ferrari simulator. And during the current year, I am engaging in it to a diminished extent in light of my affiliation with Marussia, which constitutes the primary emphasis of my temporal allocation. It’s imperative to collaborate with the collective.”
At the commencement of 2013, his vocation remained in a state of precarious equilibrium anew. Force India had executed a thorough audit of Bianchi’s and Adrian Sutil’s preceding performances as a means of forecasting which driver would execute the superior endeavor in a race seating arrangement in 2013. The collective was entrapped: having concluded favorably in 2012, it necessitated sustaining its positioning within the pecking configuration, so as to accrue a respectable allocation of the television revenues at the season’s conclusion.
