Driving for a back-of-the-field team in Formula One can be a demoralising experience: slow, off the pace, on the grid largely to be make up the numbers and expected not to get in the way of faster cars when being lapped.
It can also afford the opportunity to forge a reputation, as well as be a stepping stone for greater things – so long as something great can be achieved with below-par machinery.
Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber are among the recent top drivers who begun at the bottom of the ladder – their early efforts at Minardi eventually taking them to the top of the sport.
Jules Bianchi’s career had already shown a similar trajectory. His ninth-place finish in the Monaco Grand Prix in May last year was arguably the performance of the season.
Marussia were painfully slow, with no money and limited technical resources, yet Bianchi had consistently made decent use of the equipment available to him since his debut in 2013.
In Monaco, despite starting last on the grid, he came through the pack to be ninth. He did have luck with other cars having problems, but he still finished on the road and ahead of a Lotus, a McLaren and a Ferrari.
In fact he finished eighth, but lost five seconds because of a rules infringement and consequently a position.
It mattered little, though, as he had scored Marussia’s first points in F1.
It was not just Monaco where he impressed. He out-qualified his Marussia teammate Max Chilton in 29 of their 34 races together and, on 21 of those occasions, he was more than half a second faster, which is a huge gap in the minute margins of F1.
He was fourth quickest in first qualifying in the rain in Britain in 2014 and also had reached the second part of qualifying in wet conditions in Belgium as he seized on every chance to show what he could do on a more level playing field.
He had been marked as a talent from early on in his career and became a member of Ferrari’s young driver academy. He also had tested for them in 2011 as he competed in GP2.
A move to Sauber, who are powered by Ferrari engines, had been mooted for 2015 and a path to a drive with Ferrari in the future appeared to be a solid possibility.
Sadly, the events of Japan last October mean we will never know just how good Bianchi could have been and just how far his star would have risen had his career been allowed to play out.
As F1 comes to terms with Bianchi’s death its only consolation are the memories of a short, but bright, career in the top echelon of motorsport, floodlit by a magical afternoon in Monte Carlo in May 2014.
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hall of shame
SUNDERLAND 2002-03
No one has ended a Premier League season quite like Sunderland. They lost each of their final 15 games, taking no points after January. They ended up with 19 in total, sacking managers Peter Reid and Howard Wilkinson and losing 3-1 to Charlton when they scored three own goals in eight minutes.
SUNDERLAND 2005-06
Until Derby came along, Sunderland’s total of 15 points was the Premier League’s record low. They made it until May and their final home game before winning at the Stadium of Light while they lost a joint record 29 of their 38 league games.
HUDDERSFIELD 2018-19
Joined Derby as the only team to be relegated in March. No striker scored until January, while only two players got more assists than goalkeeper Jonas Lossl. The mid-season appointment Jan Siewert was to end his time as Huddersfield manager with a 5.3 per cent win rate.
ASTON VILLA 2015-16
Perhaps the most inexplicably bad season, considering they signed Idrissa Gueye and Adama Traore and still only got 17 points. Villa won their first league game, but none of the next 19. They ended an abominable campaign by taking one point from the last 39 available.
FULHAM 2018-19
Terrible in different ways. Fulham’s total of 26 points is not among the lowest ever but they contrived to get relegated after spending over £100 million (Dh457m) in the transfer market. Much of it went on defenders but they only kept two clean sheets in their first 33 games.
LA LIGA: Sporting Gijon, 13 points in 1997-98.
BUNDESLIGA: Tasmania Berlin, 10 points in 1965-66
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