Bianchi laid to rest in Nice as F1 community pays tribute one final time - MotorSportsTalk

Jules Bianchi has been laid to rest at today’s funeral in Nice, in a service attended by family, close friends and a considerable number of Formula 1 drivers and others in the F1 community.

Members of the public were able to watch from outside.

A healthy number of drivers, including Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Sebastian Vettel, Romain Grosjean, Nico Rosberg, Felipe Massa, Daniel Ricciardo, Daniil Kvyat, Pastor Maldonado, Marcus Ericsson and Roberto Merhi, were on hand while other figures including FIA president Jean Todt, four-time World Champion Alain Prost, Bianchi’s past teammate Max Chilton, Manor’s John Booth and Graeme Lowdon were all in attendance.

The Bianchi family said, “Jules fought right to the very end, as he always did, but today his battle came to an end.”

He passed away on Friday night at age 25, after suffering a diffuse axonal injury in last year’s Japanese Grand Prix. On Tuesday, the FIA announced it would retire his No. 17 from active competition.

Daniel Ricciardo posted these pictures below, and below that are a series of photos from the service.

For Jules pic.twitter.com/8BJB6ngSen

— Daniel Ricciardo (@danielricciardo) July 21, 2015

PHOTOS FROM SERVICE

source: — Poster of Bianchi outside. Photo: Getty Images

source: Getty Images — Jean-Eric Vergne hugs Jules’ father Philippe Bianchi. Photo: Getty Images

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Travis Pastrana waited until the final trip around ERX Motor Park to take his Joker Lap – a longer way around the course that all drivers must do at least once in a race – and came out cleanly to win his first Nitro Rallycross race of 2022. With this win, Pastrana is the third driver to visit Victory Lane in the first three rounds of the 2022-23 season.

“This is the closest to a motocross track,” Pastrana told Katie Osborne on Peacock. “Thank you so much for a beautiful facility. It’s been a rough start to the season and I’m so thankful to be back out here. We had a good run in the side-by-side and now for this. This is much needed.”

Another thing needed was the sense of improvement. And Pastrana earned that affirmation each time he completed a lap around the course.

“I get my lap times read out and they said ‘fastest time of the week,’ ‘fastest time of the week’ (each time around) ” Pastrana said. “This is really special. We’re a long way behind in the championship, but welcome to America.”

In a pre-race press conference, Pastrana said that as Nitro Rallycross heads back to America, it was time for an American to win and he made good on his promise. Pastrana took the early lead over Robin Larsson and let the back of his Subaru hang out, taking risks he might not otherwise take if not for his need to win.

How to Watch Nitro Rallycross

Larsson’s second-place finish completed a perfect sweep of the podium in three rounds. In fact, he has not yet finished worse than second after winning the opening round at Lydden Hill in the United Kingdom and finishing second at Strangnas in Sweeden.

Fraser McConnel rounded out the podium for his best result of the season. He finished fourth in each of the first two rounds.

Last year, Pastrana finished second in this race to Scott Speed before narrowly edging his teammate for the championship.

Andreas Bakkerud crashed in prelims, but rebounded to finish just off the block in fourth. Bakkerud won the second round ahead of his teammate Larsson.

Oliver Bennett completed the top five.

Minneapolis is the first of three rounds scheduled in the United States. Next on the schedule is Glen Helen, Calif. on Octo 30 and then Phoenix at Wild Horse Pass on November 12th. Nitro Rallycross will then head to Saudi Arabia in December to continue their 2022-23 season.

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