F1 drivers to attend Bianchi's funeral

NICE, France - Sebastian Vettel, Felipe Massa, Nico Rosberg are some of the F1 drivers who will attend the funeral of Jules Bianchi in Nice, France

Germany's Sport Bild claims that Sebastian Vettel, Felipe Massa, Nico Rosberg and Nico Hulkenberg will be among the late 25-year-old's closest friends and family as they farewell the former Marussia driver.

MINUTE'S SILENCE

The entire grid, meanwhile, will reportedly pause for a minute's silence ahead of what will be a sombre Hungarian GP on July 26.

FIA president Jean Todt, whose son Nicholas was close to Bianchi, has announced that the driver's personal race number 17 will be permanently retired from F1.

MANOR RETIRES CAR NO.17

Jean Todt: "As F1 car numbers are now personally chosen by each driver, the FIA believes it to be an appropriate gesture to retire Jules Bianchi's number 17."

It is also believed the former Marussia team, Manor, will carry Jules' name on the sidepods of Roberto Merhi and Will Stevens' cars this weekend in Hungary.

The team, having entered administration at the end of last year, only survived to tackle the 2015 season because of the millions in official prize money secured with Bianchi's against-the-odds points in Monaco.

Russian tycoon Andrei Cheglakov has told The Independent newspaper that he decided to quit F1 as a direct result of the Bianchi crash in Japan in October 2014.

Cheglakov said: "After what happened in Japan I was so deeply depressed because you have a responsibility for people working for you."

Use the hashtag #CiaoJules on Twitter to send your messages.

You can say goodbye to Jules Tuesday 21 July at 10 am at the Sainte Réparate Cathedral @VilledeNice #CiaoJules

— Jules_Bianchi (@Jules_Bianchi) July 19, 2015

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