It’s been ten days since the final round of the Formula Renault 3.5 series and Jules Bianchi, who is in Abu Dhabi this weekend, looks back at the incident that brought his 2012 campaign to what was definitely an unfortunate end. It doesn’t mean too much because now his attention is on trying to find an important part to play in the world of Formula 1 next year.
“I’d be lying if I said that what happened two weeks ago in Barcelona is now all behind me,” confesses Jules. “I still find myself occasionally thinking about how the championship ended. Let’s say that my biggest regret is having ended the season being hit by my closest rival for the title. I was in a strong position, but that’s not the point: I would have liked to have been able to fight to the end without any sort of mishap, but unfortunately that didn’t happen.”
“Apart from the way it ended, my season was positive,” continues Bianchi. “In 2012 I had the chance to grow still more in a new environment. For me, Formula Renault 3.5 was a new experience and I came up against many worthy competitors which proved how competitive the series is. I had to fight for every point and I’m pleased with the job the team did. We managed to always be among the front runners and if the championship didn’t come our way, it wasn’t our fault. We came second, just a few points off the winner, but with just a few laps to go, we were in the championship winning position and we did nothing wrong.”
Now the time has come to turn the page and look to the future. “The objective me and my management have set ourselves is to try and get a race drive in next year’s Formula 1 world championship,” confirms Jules. “It will not be easy, because there aren’t many seats available, with a lot of drivers on the market. I hope we can find something worthwhile, maybe getting a little bit of the luck that eluded us two weeks ago in Barcelona.”