Jules Bianchi's condition six months after his serious accident at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix shows slow but stable progress according to the F1 racer's father, Philippe Bianchi.
There is no truth to some reports showing up online that the Frenchman has woken up from coma, and there are no other official interviews aside from the ones indicated in this article.
In a recent interview, Philippe narrated some signs of improvement have given them hope that Jules Bianchi will recover.
"The only thing we can assure is that he fights with force, as he has always fought before and after the accident. Every day, Jules is running a marathon. From a medical point of view, his condition is stable. It is fairly autonomous. No physical problems. All of his organs are working without assistance. But for now, he remains unconscious in a coma," Philippe said.
He described the whole ordeal of the Jules Bianchi mishap a being a daily torture.
"From time to time, at his bedside, we see that things are happening. At times, he is more 'active', he moves more, his hand shakes ours... But are they merely reflex reactions or real? Hard to know. [It's important] to stimulate Jules, and that he feels a constant presence at his side. That's why we take turns every day: his mother, his sister, his brother and me; also Gina, who lives here now," the Marussia driver's father added.
Gina is Jules Bianchi's German girlfriend.
He took the opportunity to thank all the people who have eagerly monitored his son's condition.
"Those people who think of him and praying for him, it is a fabulous motivator. I'm sure Jules hears! Today I want to again thank them all. And tell them that we will give news, whether it be good or bad," Philippe said.
Jules Bianchi has since been taken to Nice, France to recover where he is no longer being given medication for an artificially-induced coma or connected to any life supporting device.
"As long as he does not wake up, the only thing we can do is wait. It takes patience, a lot of patience, but it is difficult to know that at any moment a terrible call could be coming from the hospital. We have to be strong, like Jules and for Jules. As long as he is in this state, the doctors cannot say anything. He might wake up or he might not. I think he will, as he has not fought with us this long for nothing," Phiippe Bianchi said in a separate interview reported here previously.
"We've hired a lawyer who is currently extensively studying what exactly happened last October, and I'm waiting on his conclusions and advice to decide a future course of action. What happened at Suzuka was not normal, and if it appears that someone must be held accountable, then they will be without question," he added.
At the Japanese Grand Prix on 5 October 2014, the French motor driver was involved in a crash on the 43rd lap after losing control of his vehicle under intermittent rainfall caused by an approaching typhoon. His car collided head-on with a crane that was removing the Sauber driven by Adrian Sutil who crashed at Turn 7 of the Suzuka Circuit a lap earlier.
His team confirmed two days later that he had suffered brain injury from the crash, and that he had been unconscious since.
Jules Bianchi made his debut in 2013 for Marussia and finished 15th in his opening race in Australia. Although he was not able to score any points, he was noted for his performance in the Malaysian Grand Prix where he finished 13th. In 2014, he scored his first point (and his team's) at the Monaco Grand Prix Formula One.
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