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NICE, France - The father of Formula 1 driver Jules Bianchi says he is "less optimistic" that his son will recover from the severe head injuries he suffered in a crash at the 2014 Japanese GP.
Bianchi, 25, has been in a coma since the October 2014 collision with a recovery crane at Suzuka and remains in a hospital in Nice on the French Mediterranean coast near his parents' home.
NO SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS
Philippe Bianchi told France Info radio on Monday (July 13 2015): "In general, progress needs to be made in the first six months. It's been nine months and Jules has still not woken up. There is no significant progress.
"As time goes by, it makes me less optimistic than I might have been two or three months after the accident when one might have hoped for a better outcome."
Bianchi, whose Marussia race car crashed into a recovery tractor in rain and fading light, suffered the most serious F1 race injury since Brazilian triple champion Ayrton Senna was killed at Imola in 1994.
An International Automobile Federation (FIA) report said in December 2014 that Bianchi, who had scored the team's first points in Monaco earlier in the 2014 season, had not slowed sufficiently under warning flags.
The report found that Bianchi's car hit the tractor at 126km/h and cleared medical services of any fault in their handling of the aftermath.
Bianchi's father said in May 2015 that the family had not given up hope of a miracle but recognised they should be prepared for the worst.
'DRIVING WAS HIS LIFE'
Philippe Bianchi said: "It's hard to get up in the morning while telling yourself that you're not sure your son is going to live. Every day is like that."
He said he and Jules had spoken after Michael Schumacher's skiing fall at the end of 2013 about what they would want in a similar situation.
Bianchi said: "If he were to have severe handicaps we are convinced that is not at all what Jules would want.
"We talked about it. He told us that if one day he had an accident like Michael Schumacher's, even if his only handicap was not being able to drive, he would have a lot of difficulty living with it.
"It (driving) was his life."
McLaren driver Fernando Alonso continually posts messages for Bianchi on social media:
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