18/07/2015
NEWS STORY
Jules Bianchi has passed away, nine months after his horrific accident during the Japanese GP.
The youngster, was being cared for at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire (CHU) in Nice where he passed away during the night.
"Jules fought right to the very end, as he always did, but today his battle came to an end," said his family in a statement.
In succumbing to his injuries, the 25-year-old becomes the first driver to perish following an accident in an F1 car since the nightmare weekend of Imola in 1994 which witnessed the deaths of Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna, though it should not be forgotten that Maria de Villota's death from a cardiac arrest in 2013 is widely believed to be linked to her F1 testing crash (also in a Marussia) at Duxford Aerodrome a year earlier.
Earlier this week, Jules father, Philippe Bianchi, admitted that he was becoming less optimistic about his son's chances of a full recovery.
"In general, progress needs to be made in the first six months," he told France Info. "It has been nine months now and Jules has still not woken up and there is no significant progress.
"As time goes by, I am less optimistic than I might have been two or three months after the accident when we could have hoped for better progress," he admitted. "There comes a point when you have to just keep your feet on the ground and realise the gravity of the situation."
Following his initial treatment in Japan after the accident last October, Jules was moved to a hospital in Nice in the south of France in order to be closer to his family. It was there that he passed away late last night.
"The pain we feel is immense and indescribable," said his family in its statement. "We wish to thank the medical staff at Nice's CHU who looked after him with love and dedication.
"We also thank the staff of the General Medical Center in the Mie Prefecture (Japan) who looked after Jules immediately after the accident, as well as all the other doctors who have been involved with his care over the past months.
"Furthermore, we thank Jules' colleagues, friends, fans and everyone who has demonstrated their affection for him over these past months, which gave us great strength and helped us deal with such difficult times. Listening to and reading the many messages made us realise just how much Jules had touched the hearts and minds of so many people all over the world.
"We would like to ask that our privacy is respected during this difficult time, while we try to come to terms with the loss of Jules."
Messages of sympathy and support from his racing colleagues soon followed, aware that they had lost not only a colleague and friend but that the sport has lost a major talent.
"We are devastated to lose Jules after such a hard-fought battle," said Manor Marussia on Twitter, the team revealing that it will issue a statement later today (Saturday). "It was a privilege to have him race for our team."
"#CiaoJules forever in Ferrari's hearts," added Ferrari, for whom the French youngster had tested and for whom, surely one day, he would have raced.
"Horrible news. Rest in peace mate. A great example of fight and courage for all of us. You will always be with us," wrote Carlos Sainz.
"I'll never forget you and the good times we had. Going to miss you bro," tweeted Daniel Ricciardo.
Valtteri Bottas: "Woke up to these very sad news.. RIP Jules. You will be never forgotten. My thoughts are with the family."
Jenson Button: "Last night we lost a truly great guy and a real fighter #RIPJules my sincerest Condolences to his family and friends."
Romain Grosjean: "Yesterday we lost one of the best guys and best drivers I've ever met. I'll miss you so much my friend"
Even though we were all aware that it was unlikely there would be happy ending, today's sad news leaves us speechless nonetheless.
Our thoughts, and those of our readers, go to Jules' parents Philippe and Christine, his brother Tom and his sister Melanie, Manor Marussia, Ferrari, Force India, his many fans and, not least, his colleagues, who, despite all our constant complaints about the quality of the racing put their lives on the line most weekends for our entertainment.
#ForzaJules