A year on from Jules Bianchi scoring Marussia’s first and only points in Formula 1 last year in Monaco, his father Philippe Bianchi has spoken about the difficulties everyone around his hospitalised son, critically injured in a crash during last year’s Japanese Grand Prix, and feels the family are waiting for a miracle to happen.
There has been no change in Jules’ condition in a Nice hospital, with the family clinging to the hope that the popular Frenchman will continue to fight to finally emerge from his coma.
“The first thing, is that Jules is alive, and I think that’s the most important for us,” said Philippe Bianchi to Canal+. “He’s fighting, for sure, with the tools he has, his physical strength mostly, I’m not sure he has the power to do a lot of things on the neurological level, but it’s clear that to see him fighting gives us a lot of courage.
“It’s important for us, and as long as there is living, there is hope, even though we have to wait for a miracle after such a violent hit.
“Each day is difficult, but with each day passing by, we say to ourselves that he’s still alive, and it gives us the motivation to keep our heads out of the water. Today we are in a situation where it stagnates, because Jules’ neurological evolutions aren’t what we would like them to be.
“Each night, we sleep with the telephone by our side, and when we get up in the morning, we think about Jules’ life, but also about death, because we have to in a situation where we know a lot of things can happen to him, it’s terrible.
“I think we all stopped living that day, October 5th, because it’s something you can’t prepare yourself for, and I would say life stopped there and at some point.
“There needs to be an issue for Jules, because I think being in a hospital bed is not what he wants. It’s not his life, it’s not what we want for him either. Now we have to keep hoping, and see what happens.”
Bianchi Snr once again took the time to thank everyone around the world for the support they have shown Jules and the family since that fateful day in October last year, and revealed that he tells his son about that support every time he sees him in hospital.
“Jules is here – despite the shock he took, he’s still here, he’s fighting,” said Bianchi Snr. “All the people who think about him give him power, and I think he feels all of that.
“It’s beautiful, we are thankful for all the messages, because Jules wasn’t Michael Schumacher, but seeing all this support, it’s great.
“At least for Jules it’s important and we tell him that when we go visit him, we tell him that he has a lot of support, that everyone loves him and he is recognized as a great driver and a good guy.”
