Jules Bianchi’s parents speak of ‘desperate’ situation as Formula One driver fights for life after accident
Critically injured French Formula One driver Jules Bianchi will not give up his fight for life but the situation remains desperate, his father Philippe said on Tuesday.
Speaking to Italy’s Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper in Yokkaichi, Japan, where the 25-year-old Marussia driver is in intensive care, Bianchi senior said it was a miracle his son was still alive.
“The situation is desperate. Every time the phone rings we know it could be the hospital to say Jules is dead,” he said.
“But first they said the first 24 hours were crucial, then it became 72 and now we are still here, with Jules who is fighting.
I see it, I believe it, I speak to him, I know he hears me. The doctors have said that is already a miracle
“I see it, I believe it, I speak to him, I know he hears me. The doctors have said that is already a miracle, that nobody has ever survived such a serious accident. But Jules does not give up.”
Bianchi has been in hospital since he crashed into a recovery tractor in the wet at the Japanese Grand Prix on October 5. The team said in an update he remained critical but stable.
“The past nine days have been extremely difficult for Jules and his family. As a consequence of the accident at Suzuka, a number of medical challenges have needed to be overcome and the situation remains challenging due to the diffuse axonal traumatic brain injury Jules has sustained,” the team said.
FIA medical commission president Gerard Saillant and Italian professor Alessandro Frati, who flew to Japan after the crash, had returned to Europe after assuring the family that Bianchi was getting the best possible care.
The driver’s father said the family were living a nightmare, in unfamiliar surroundings and without knowing what the future might hold.
“Maybe when Jules is better ... we can move him to Tokyo and things will be easier. But who knows when that will happen, if it happens. We have no certainties, we can only wait,” he said.
Philippe Bianchi said he took hope from the case of seven times world champion Michael Schumacher, who suffered a severe head injury while skiing in France last year and is now being treated at home.
“Even with Schumacher it took months before he came out of the coma, but I have read that Jean Todt hopes he could have a nearly normal life. One day I hope to be able to say the same.”
