Retaining his seat for 2014, Bianchi scored his first championship points at the Monaco Grand Prix—finishing ninth after starting 21st on the grid—earning widespread acclaim from drivers and pundits.

[a] During the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix, Bianchi lost control of his Marussia MR03 in very wet conditions and collided with a recovery vehicle, suffering a diffuse axonal injury.

[16] Bianchi continued in the F3 Euroseries in 2009, leading ART's line-up along with rookie team-mates Valtteri Bottas, Esteban Gutiérrez and Adrien Tambay.

[21] In the feature race, he spun into the path of the field exiting the first corner, and was struck head-on by Ho-Pin Tung, sustaining a fractured second lumbar vertebra in the process.

In August 2009, Bianchi was linked by the BBC and various other media sources to the second Ferrari Formula One seat occupied by Luca Badoer during Felipe Massa's absence.

[31] The other drivers tested on 3 December included Daniel Zampieri, Marco Zipoli and Pablo Sánchez López as the top three finishers in the 2009 Italian Formula Three Championship.

Bianchi's performance in this test led to him becoming the first recruit of the Ferrari Driver Academy[32] and signing up to a long-term deal to remain at the team's disposal.

[35] For the 2012 season, Ferrari loaned him to the Sahara Force India team, for whom he drove in nine Friday free practice sessions over the course of the year as the outfit's test and reserve driver.

[42] After starting off the season with struggles in Australia, in which he was not classified, Bianchi overcame the odds to score his – and his team's – first World Championship points by finishing ninth at the Monaco Grand Prix.

Days before his fatal accident, Bianchi declared himself "ready" to step into the Scuderia Ferrari race seat should the team need him amid the looming departure of Fernando Alonso.

[46] The 2014 Japanese Grand Prix was held at the Suzuka Circuit on 5 October, under intermittent heavy rainfall caused by the approaching Typhoon Phanfone and in fading daylight.

On lap 42 of the scheduled 53-lap race, Adrian Sutil's Sauber spun out of control and crashed in the run-off area on the outside of the Dunlop Curve (turn seven).

[47] Spectators' video footage and photographs of the accident revealed that the left side of Bianchi's Marussia car was extensively damaged and the roll bar destroyed as it slid under the wheel loader.

[54] The FIA subsequently said that CT scans showed Bianchi suffered a "severe head injury" in the crash, and that he would be admitted to intensive care following surgery.

[57][58][59] Initial media reports in October 2014—said to be based on information obtained from Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) documents—claimed that the speed at the moment of loss of control was recorded at 212 km/h (132 mph)[60] and that the impact generated 92 g0 (900 m/s2).

According to Andy Mellor, Vice President of the FIA Safety Commission, this is the equivalent of "dropping a car 48 metres (157 ft) to the ground without a crumple zone".

[62] At the inaugural Russian Grand Prix, one week after the accident, Marussia originally registered Alexander Rossi in place of the hospitalised Bianchi, before finally deciding to field only a single car driven by Max Chilton.

[75][76] Following Bianchi's accident, the FIA began an investigation and also considered appropriate changes to safety procedures, such as those at the Brazilian Grand Prix, where the location of a tractor crane serving the Senna S chicane was altered.

With respect to the latter, the FIA moved to quickly consider the introduction of a virtual safety car – or VSC system – which was then tested during the season's final three Grands Prix in the United States, Brazil and Abu Dhabi – based on a Le Mans racing "slow zone" arrangement that does not neutralise race proceedings as much as safety car periods.

[81] The report also made several suggestions to improve safety when recovering stricken vehicles — which were subsequently introduced for the 2015 season — before concluding that it would not have been possible to mitigate Bianchi's injuries through changes to the cockpit design.

[82] In July 2015, Peter Wright, the Chairman of the FIA Safety Commission was quoted as saying that a closed cockpit would not have averted Bianchi's head injuries, while the Vice President, Andy Mellow, also confirmed that attaching impact protection to recovery vehicles was not a feasible solution.

[85][86][87] He was taken out of his artificial coma in November 2014 and began breathing unaided, making his relocation to France for admission at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nice (CHU) possible.

[97] Many current, former, and future drivers attended Bianchi's funeral, including Alexander Wurz, Esteban Gutiérrez, Allan McNish, Alexander Rossi, Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, Nico Rosberg, Jenson Button, Sebastian Vettel, Jean-Éric Vergne, Marcus Ericsson, Roberto Merhi, Adrian Sutil, Valtteri Bottas, Pastor Maldonado, Pedro de la Rosa, Romain Grosjean, Daniel Ricciardo, Felipe Massa, Alain Prost, Nico Hülkenberg, Olivier Panis, Daniil Kvyat, and Max Chilton.

[99] Widespread tributes followed from fellow past and present drivers, Bernie Ecclestone, French president François Hollande, and other sport personalities.

[100] The Manor Marussia team also published a statement on their Facebook page describing Bianchi as, among other things, "a magnificent human being" and a "shining talent".

In December 2015, Bianchi's father announced plans to create a foundation in his son's honour to uncover and nurture young drivers throughout their career.

The initiative involves exhibiting Jules Bianchi's memorabilia (from go-karts and single-seaters to personal pictures and videos) and merchandising with JB17 branding, sponsoring opportunities and events.

[115] French musician Benjamin Biolay composed a song titled "Grand Prix", part of an album of the same name, with lyrics that describe Bianchi's accident and death.

[117] Bianchi also appeared as an extra in the Formula E docudrama film titled And We Go Green, produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, using archived video footage of him from when he was alive.