Family of tragic Formula One driver Jules Bianchi launch legal action to clear his name

The sad death of Jules Bianchi is still reverberating through Formula One.

The sport has updated its safety protocols in the wake of the death of the 25 year old in 2015, but his family has launched a legal action against the sport’s governing body, the FIA, the driver's former Marussia team and Bernie Ecclestone's Formula One Group. Bianchi suffered catastrophic head injuries after an accident at the Japanese Grand Prix in 2014, and died nine months later after never regaining consciousness. An official race report last year found that the Frenchman suffered a peak impact of 254G on colliding with a recovery tractor at the side of the circuit and crashed into the vehicle at a speed of 78mph. A spokesperson for Bianchi's family confirmed they are seeking legal action against several parties and are accusing them of contributing to his death by making several errors on the day of the race. His family are reported to be especially upset that the official race report appeared to blame the 25-year-old for the fatal accident after it claimed he failed to reduce his speed sufficiently on a wet track. Julian Chamberlayne, speaking on behalf of the legal team taking the action, claims several errors contributed to the driver's death

"Jules Bianchi's death was avoidable. The Bianchi family are determined that this legal process should require those involved to provide answers and to take responsibility for any failings. "This is important if current and future drivers are to have confidence that safety in the sport will be put first."

Bianchi's father has expressed his desire to have his son's reputation restored after the report.

"We seek justice for Jules, and want to establish the truth about the decisions that led to our son’s crash. As a family, we have so many unanswered questions and feel that Jules’ accident and death could have been avoided if a series of mistakes had not been made.”