PHILIPPE BIANCHI is still struggling to come to terms with his son’s death a year on from his fatal accident during the Japanese Grand Prix.
Jules Bianchi, lost control at speed and in tricky conditions here at Suzuka 12 months ago and crashed into a crane being used to recover another Formula One car.
The Frenchman, who was driving for Marussia, suffered a massive head injury and died nine months later in a hospital near his home in Nice.
Bianchi, 25 at the time of his death, has been remembered with various tributes ahead of this weekend’s race.
But his father Philippe cannot bear to watch the sport.
He said: “Perhaps in a few months, a few years, I can see it again. But for the moment, it is too difficult.
“It’s a difficult moment because it marks one year now that Jules had his crash — and this week is not a good week for the Bianchi family.
“Jules is missed a lot by all his family, all the fans, all his friends. It is very difficult.
“The problem when Jules had this crash, I think that his head and his brain were finished, because he had too much damage in his brain.
“You have two things — the neurological and the physical — and Jules had a very big physical presence. I think he stayed in life because physically he is very strong.
“I think that Jules is with me now but it’s difficult because he phoned me and his mother every day.
“Now it is one year that I can’t speak with Jules and his mother can’t speak with him.
“And for nine months I can’t touch him and can’t give him a kiss. But Jules was a very good boy, he was very near his family. it’s terrible.”
Bianchi was the first driver to die from injuries sustained in F1 since Ayrton Senna was killed in 1994 in San Marino.
F1’s governing body launched an in-depth investigation into Bianchi’s accident and found he “did not slow sufficiently to avoid losing control”.
It was an announcement that clearly upset his father, who claims proposed talk of F1 cars with closed canopy cockpits would have saved his son.
He added: “For me it is strange when some people say he goes too fast, because he is an F1 driver.
“I don’t know what happened because for the moment I don’t want to see the video of the incident. Perhaps in one month, two months, six months.
“I can’t see pictures of the crash of Jules. It’s not possible for me to say something about the crash because it’s too difficult for me to look at the video.
“To close the cockpit, for me, is a very good thing, but for Jules’s incident, it’s not the same, because as a doctor explained to me, it’s not that he took something on the head.
“The deceleration was too big and a closed cockpit wouldn’t have changed anything.”
Bianchi is now looking to honour his son’s short life by starting a foundation aimed at helping young talented drivers who do not have financial backing.
He added: “He was in motorsport since he was three on my go-kart track and all his life he loved it.
“I want to make a foundation to help young drivers perhaps in go-kart who don’t have money and who need some people to give them experience.
“I speak with a lot of drivers in F1 and am sure they want to help me because I think that all the drivers are very touched by this dramatic incident.
“I’m sure I can make something good for Jules. It’s important now because Jules is not here, but it’s difficult because he is missed a lot.”