Former Formula One driver Jean Alesi has joined the growing number of motorsport figures who have paid tribute to Jules Bianchi after the 25-year-old passed away overnight.

Alesi, who knew Bianchi very well thanks to his role as Team Captain for the French Motorsport Federation, thinks there were strong chances that the Nice-born racer would have eventually succeeded him as the next Frenchman to race for Ferrari.

“Jules was France’s up-an-coming talent in motor racing,” Alesi told French radio RTL. “He was better than the [Marussia] he drove and achieved an exploit at Monaco by securing these two points that have helped the team survive. He was a great champion.”

“Somehow, he lived his dream of driving for Ferrari by testing several times with them as the team’s official reserve. He was waiting for his breakthrough and I’m sure his time would have come had things gone differently.”

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 Bianchi has become the first driver to die from injuries sustained in an F1 accident since Ayrton Senna in 1994. Alesi, who raced at the top echelon from 1989 to 2001, admits he expected the Brazilian legend to remain the last casualty in the sport.

“I belong to an older generation of drivers who witnessed Senna’s crash at first hand and we could not imagine that, with all the improvements made in terms of circuit and car safety standards, such a tragedy could happen nowadays.”