Bianchi ready for race seat

He has shown talent and determination and, with Scuderia Ferrari’s support, he has fought all the way to the end of the season, delivering some strong performances on the way and he is looking forward to taking to the track at the Circuit of the Americas this weekend: Fernando Alonso? No, Jules Bianchi. The young Frenchman, a student of the FDA (Ferrari Driver Academy) finished second in this year’s World Series by Renault, looking set to take the title at the last round, until taken out by a questionable move from the driver who went on to be champion.

“It was a difficult final race, given that I was heading for the win until that incident, but that’s part of racing and I prefer to look ahead and think about next year,” says the Frenchman.

While his racing is over for the year, Bianchi will be continuing with another role he took on this season, namely third driver for the Sahara Force India Formula 1 team and he will be driving the Friday morning session for the Silverstone-based squad this weekend in Austin at the penultimate round of the 2012 Formula 1 World Championship. The role keeps him in the spotlight while he tries to move up the motorsport ladder for next year.

“I learned a lot from this role and from driving in FP1,” continunes Bianchi. “Even if I’d driven before at the previous year’s Young Driver Test in Abu Dhabi and also at Jerez, it’s not the same as driving during a race weekend, because you are under a lot more pressure. I feel I have grown up a lot with this experience and I am now ready to be a race driver in Formula 1. I hope I find an official seat for next year as this is definitely my dream. I feel I had a good season in World Series and did a good job with Force India as well, so I feel ready and think I deserve a seat in Formula 1.”

If that’s Bianchi’s short term goal, his long term one is equally clear: “My dream is to race for Ferrari one day!”

As part of his role with the Scuderia, Bianchi has spent a lot of time in the simulator and, for this weekend’s first visit to a brand new race circuit, the virtual race track has proved even more important than usual. “When you start Friday practice, you must be able to go to the limit immediately otherwise you won’t be competitive when it comes to qualifying and for this, the simulator is a great help and the best way to learn the track,” confirms Bianchi. “The Austin track layout looks really interesting with many quick corners. The first part is similar to the first sector in Japan and then the Becketts complex at Silverstone. I think it will be very interesting in terms of driving, while there are also many slow corners. Overall, judging from the simulator, I’d say it’s one of the best tracks. Everyone in Maranello has been working very hard to improve the performance of the F2012 for this race and, in my opinion, it should be competitive at the Circuit of the Americas. It is always difficult to overtake in Formula 1, but in Austin, you have two heavy braking points with a long straight in between, so there should be plenty of overtaking opportunities this weekend.”

The Circuit of the Americas is another track from the pen of Hermann Tilke. Built in less than two years in Travis County, near the Texas capital, Austin, it passed its last inspection as fit to stage the United States Grand Prix back on 25 September. The track is over five and a half kilometres long and runs anti-clockwise, featuring over 20 corners and going through a height change of 41 metres.

Once his Friday morning duties are over, Bianchi’s attention will no doubt focus on the main topic of the weekend, the battle for the Drivers’ Championship. Victory has to be the Scuderia’s target on Sunday to close down Sebastian Vettel’s ten point lead over Fernando Alonso. The Prancing Horse has won the United States Grand Prix twelve times; more than any other team. Pedantic statisticians argue about how many races were actual United States Grands Prix, with some known as “USA West” and others “USA East,” but the baseline is that there have been a total of 51 races held in the country since the world championship began, dating back to Sebring in 1959.

It’s true to say that the USA has not always taken to Formula 1 and the series has had a peripatetic time across the Atlantic and Austin will be the tenth venue to stage the race. However, the United States and the Prancing Horse go back a long way together, writing key moments in the history of motor racing, such as Phil Hill becoming the first American to become F1 World Champion, back in 1961 at the wheel of a Ferrari, the beautiful 156 “shark nose.” The last time Formula 1 came here was back in 2007, with the race taking place at the famous Indianapolis circuit and Fernando finished second, although not in a red car, and behind him in third was his current team-mate, Felipe Massa, who came second at the same venue one year earlier. A good omen? Let’s hope so.