Charles Leclerc shares touching memories in Jules Bianchi tribute 10 years on

Charles Leclerc has paid tribute to his close friend and godfather, Jules Bianchi, on the 10th anniversary of his death.

Bianchi tragically passed away on 17 July 2015, nine months after sustaining severe injuries during a crash at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix. The Marussia driver crashed into a recovery vehicle at the Suzuka Circuit in extreme wet conditions. After being transported to hospital, he was placed in an induced coma. His family announced his death nine months later at just 25 years old.

The Ferrari Formula 1 driver grew close to Bianchi when he became friends with Leclerc's older brother, Lorenzo. Leclerc recounted some of his first memories with the Frenchman to F1.com.

"The first memories that I recall of Jules are not of Jules the driver, but rather Jules the person, as I experienced him a lot more as a human being rather than a racer.

"We spent so much time together growing up and both of our families were and still are extremely close. My older brother and him were best friends, so he was always around."

He added, "I've got some stories from that time, like the first horror movie I watched was actually with Jules. He didn't know I was pretending to be asleep. He was trying to make sure that I was asleep because he wanted to watch that movie with my older brother!"

The eight-time grand prix winner took the opportunity to compliment and share insight into Bianchi's character.

Felipe Massa, Jules Bianchi and Charles Leclerc

"Jules was such a genuinely nice person. He was very funny and he had his crazy moments when you got to know him very well. He was just always happy to help and very happy to have fun as well."

Some of the "most special memories" that Leclerc has with his godfather includes when they would take advantage of the karting track that Bianchi's father managed. 

"Normally rental karts are for adults but his father was managing the track and obviously was letting us do things that maybe we were not too allowed," he continued.

"I looked up to him so to be racing with him, with my older brother, with his younger brother, and many, many other professional karting drivers at the time was incredible.

"We had so much fun. We would hang out and wait for the karting track to close to the public so we could get on. Then we’d go crazy on track for hours and hours. These are probably the most special memories I have.

"Jules was the most competitive person I've ever met and I feel like I have that competitiveness in me because of Jules. When we were doing some races in karting, there was that competitiveness but also in the most stupid things we did at home, there was exactly the same competitiveness. He would get so frustrated when he lost anything!"

Finally, Leclerc shared his hopes that Bianchi will be remembered "as an extremely talented driver, who unfortunately never had the chance to be in a top team with a car that was helping him to show the extent of his talent.

"There are some people where you can see through their eyes, through their smile, how good of a person they are – and I think Jules is one of them.

"This is probably the most important thing for me to remember from Jules – how kind of a human being he was and how dedicated he was to try and reach his goals."