A sad bulletin from Jules Bianchi's father

Philippe Bianchi, the father of F1 driver Jules has issued an update on his son's condition which leaves little room for optimism.

Philippe Bianchi, the father of F1 driver Jules has issued an update on his son's condition which leaves little room for optimism. The Frenchman crashed into a mobile crane at the Japanese Grand Prix last October, but has not yet woken from his coma.

Bianchi Sr told French radio station France Infos that there has been no progress in his son's condition. He was moved from intensive care in Japan to a hospital near the family home in Nice, France. "In general, progress needs to be made in the first six months," Bianchi Sr said. "It has been nine months now and Jules has still not woken up."

Bianchi's family faces some tough decisions ahead, in light of the fact that the young Frenchman had spoken to his father in the months before his accident about Michael Schumacher's condition, following the seven times world champion's skiing accident in December 2013, which left him in a coma.

"If he had a severe handicap, we are convinced that is not what Jules would want," said Bianchi Sr. "We talked about it. He discussed with us that if one day he had an accident like that of Michael Schumacher, that even if his only handicap was not being able to drive, he would have a lot of difficulty living. Because it was his life."

Bianchi suffered a diffuse axonal injury in the impact, which means that there is no specific area of sharp focus in the brain which has been damaged. In other words it’s not like an area of depression which would be caused by a focussed blow to the head. It is a non-direct injury where the head decelerates and rotates. Typically the risk is nerve fibres being damages, there are often areas of bleeding.

Bianchi had been lined up to move to Sauber for 2015, with the possibility of a Ferrari seat in the future. Writing in his driver column on this website, almost exactly 12 months ago he said,

"For me Ferrari is like a second family and to drive full time with that Prancing Horse remains my goal, my ultimate dream.

"Will I ever get to realize that dream? I don’t know. But given that I have fulfilled my first goal of driving in F1, why not aspire to fulfilling the even bigger dream?"