In 2007, Bianchi left karting and raced in French Formula Renault 2.0 for SG Formula, where he finished as champion with five wins. He also competed in the Formula Renault Eurocup where he had one pole position and one fastest lap in three races.

In late 2007, Bianchi signed with ART Grand Prix to compete in the Formula 3 Euro Series.

In 2008 Bianchi won the Masters of Formula 3 at Zolder, and also finished third in the 2008 Formula 3 Euro Series season.

Bianchi continued in the F3 Euroseries in 2009, leading ART’s line-up along with rookie team-mates Valtteri Bottas, Esteban Gutiérrez and Adrien Tambay. With eight wins, Bianchi sealed the title with a round to spare, at Dijon-Prenois. He then added a ninth win at the final round at Hockenheim. He also drove in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series at Monaco, after SG Formula acquired the cars formerly run by Kurt Mollekens.

Bianchi opted to switch to the Formula Renault 3.5 Series for 2012, following his one-off appearance in the category in 2009. He signed for the Tech 1 Racing team, and was partnered with Kevin Korjus, and later with Daniel Abt. He finished second in the title race, narrowly losing out to Robin Frijns at the final round.

In August 2009, Bianchi was linked by the BBC and various other media sources to the second Ferrari Formula One seat occupied by Luca Badoer during Felipe Massa’s absence. Bianchi tested for Ferrari at the young drivers test at Circuito de Jerez for two of the three days, over 1–2 December 2009. The other drivers tested on 3 December included Daniel Zampieri, Marco Zipoli and Pablo Sánchez López as the top three finishers in the 2009 Italian Formula Three Championship. Bianchi’s performance in this test led to him becoming the first recruit of the Ferrari Driver Academy and signing up to a long-term deal to remain at the team’s disposal.

On 11 November 2010 he was confirmed by Ferrari as the team’s test and reserve driver for the 2011 season, replacing Luca Badoer, Giancarlo Fisichella and Marc Gené, as well as confirming he would test for the team during the young driver test in Abu Dhabi over 16–17 November. Bianchi carried on his GP2 racing, as Formula 1 allows test and reserve drivers to race in parallel in other competitions. On 13 September 2011, Bianchi tested for Ferrari at Fiorano, as part of the Ferrari Driver Academy, with fellow academy member and Sauber F1 driver Sergio Pérez. Bianchi completed 70 laps and recorded a quickest lap time of 1:00.213. For the 2012 season, Ferrari loaned him to the Sahara Force India team, for whom he drove in nine Friday free practice sessions over the course of the year as the outfit’s test and reserve driver.

On 1 March 2013, Marussia announced that Bianchi was to replace Luiz Razia as a race driver after Razia’s contract was terminated, due to sponsorship issues. Bianchi qualified 19th for the Australian Grand Prix, out-qualifying team-mate Max Chilton by three-quarters of a second. Bianchi overtook Pastor Maldonado, and Daniel Ricciardo on the first lap and he eventually finished 15th on his debut. He was 19th on the grid again in Malaysia, 0.3 seconds away from Q2. Bianchi fell behind the Caterhams at the start of the race, but moved up the order after the pit stops, eventually going on to finish 13th, ahead of his teammate, and both Caterhams. As of the Hungarian Grand Prix, Bianchi had beaten his teammate in all qualifying sessions and all races that both of them had finished. In the Japanese Grand Prix he and Charles Pic of Caterham were given ten-place grid penalties for receiving three reprimands over the season, and at the race, his race ended early after a collision with Giedo van der Garde.

In October 2013, Marussia confirmed that Bianchi would stay at the team for the following season. After starting off the season with struggles in Australia, in which he was not classified, Bianchi overcame the odds to score his – and his team’s – first World Championship points by finishing ninth at the Monaco Grand Prix.

The 2014 Japanese Grand Prix was held on 5 October, under intermittent heavy rainfall caused by the approaching Typhoon Phanfone and in fading daylight.

While hospitalised in Yokkaichi, Bianchi remained in a critical but stable condition, and required a medical ventilator. He was taken out of his artificial coma in November 2014 and began breathing unaided, making his relocation to France for admission at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nice (CHU), possible. There, Bianchi remained unconscious and in a critical condition but more accessible to his family for their daily vigil. On 13 July 2015, Bianchi’s father publicly conceded becoming “less optimistic” as a consequence of no significant progress and the lapse of time since the accident.

Subsequent calculations in July 2015 indicated a peak of 254 g0 (2,490 m/s) and data from the FIA’s World Accident Database (WADB)—which sources information from racing accidents worldwide—also indicate Bianchi’s impact occurred 2.61 seconds after the loss of control, at a speed of 123 km/h (76 mph) and at an angle of 55 degrees. According to Andy Mellor, Vice President of the FIA Safety Commission, this is the equivalent of dropping a “car 48 metres (157 ft) to the ground without a crumple zone”.

The day after the Japanese Grand Prix, then-outgoing Ferrari president, Luca di Montezemolo, disclosed to the media that Bianchi had been poised to become the third Ferrari driver in 2015 in the event that the championship moved to three car teams, as had widely been speculated at the time.

After the 2015 Australian Grand Prix in March, John Booth, now team principal of the newly established Manor Marussia F1 team, paid tribute to Bianchi’s point performance at the 2014 Monaco Grand Prix since the prize money won enabled the team to stay in Formula One. In addition, coinciding with the 2015 Monaco Grand Prix, Manor Marussia continued to show support for Bianchi with special red wristbands inscribed with “Monaco 2014 P8 JB17”.

For the 2015 season, on safety grounds, the FIA also implemented measures to alter the start time of certain Grands Prix by requiring that it is not less than four hours before either sunset or dusk, except in the case of official night races.

In July 2015, Peter Wright, the Chairman of the FIA Safety Commission was quoted as saying that a closed cockpit would not have averted Bianchi’s head injuries, while the Vice President, Andy Mellow, also confirmed that attaching impact protection to recovery vehicles was not a feasible solution.

Bianchi died on 17 July 2015, aged 25, from injuries sustained at the time of his accident in Suzuka nine months prior. His death made him the first Formula One driver to be killed by injuries sustained during a Grand Prix since Ayrton Senna in 1994.

The funeral service was held at the Nice Cathedral, on 21 July 2015. He was subsequently cremated and his ashes rest at Monte Carlo Cemetery. Many current and former drivers attended Bianchi’s funeral, including Alexander Wurz, Esteban Gutiérrez, Allan McNish, Alexander Rossi, Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, Nico Rosberg, Jenson Button, Sebastian Vettel, Jean-Éric Vergne, Marcus Ericsson, Roberto Merhi, Adrian Sutil, Valtteri Bottas, Pastor Maldonado, Pedro de la Rosa, Romain Grosjean, Daniel Ricciardo, Felipe Massa, Alain Prost, Nico Hülkenberg, Olivier Panis, Daniil Kvyat, and Max Chilton.

In December 2015, Bianchi’s father announced plans to create a foundation in his son’s honour to uncover and nurture young drivers throughout their career. The initiative involves exhibiting Jules Bianchi’s memorabilia (from go-karts and single-seaters to personal pictures and videos) and merchandising with JB17 branding, sponsoring opportunities and events. Among the supporters is Prince Albert of Monaco, where the foundation is based.

In May 2016 it was announced that Bianchi’s family plans to take legal action against the FIA, Bianchi’s Marussia team and Bernie Ecclestone’s Formula One Group.

The Rue du Sapin, the street address of the Allianz Riviera football stadium, was renamed in Bianchi’s honour in 2016.