Jules,

You are gone now so it seems a little bit too late to write to you, but still I feel the need to. I woke up this morning and as I browsed through my phone to see the news, I wasn’t excepting to read about the news of your passing. I was still hoping that somehow you would wake up and grace us again with your beautiful smile. I was hoping, desperately, that you would one day come back to the track and show everyone the depth of your strength. Many said it was unlikely, that you had suffered too many injuries to come back from them, but I didn’t want to hear them. Because that’s not what us, motorheads, are made of. I wanted to believe in the impossible. Because how many times have we heard we couldn’t do something and did it anyway?

That’s what you reminded me of. The fight. The hunger for greater things. They say every person that comes into your life has a lesson to teach you. We never met but you still taught me a lot through the screen. Seeing you reach Formula One and shine bright with your talent, I was reminded of how anything is possible if you believe in it and commit to it. I was reminded that no dream gets so big that you can’t handle it anymore. I was reminded of the value of hard work, perseverance and faith. And although you are gone now, that lesson will stick with me.

I hope that wherever now you get to race like you knew how to so well. I hope you get to be a Ferrari driver, win a championship, maybe even two or three. I hope you know you are loved, so so much. I wished that you could see how you affected people’s lives, the deep deep mark you’ve left on every person you met, how you affected them. I wished you could read the tributes they are writing about you, all the superlatives they use-only good ones I swear! – I hope that they all get to wherever you are.  Please send us some your strength and courage.

We love you and will miss you.