Marussia driver Jules Bianchi is still unconscious after a crash in October, his family said.

The 25-year-old Frenchman’s car aquaplaned off the wet track while driving for the Banbury-based team in the Japanese Grand Prix.

He crashed into the back of a tractor – which had been rescuing the Sauber of Adrian Sutil, who had spun off the circuit on the previous lap – and suffered a severe injury to his brain.

His parents, Philippe and Christine, said 2014 had been a difficult year for the family and that there had been little change in his condition.

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In a statement they said: “It was a significant and very comforting step for us to be able to bring Jules home to France last month, to continue his rehabilitation surrounded by his family and friends.

“Since that time, Jules has received the very best treatment in the Intensive Care Unit of Le Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nice (CHU) and now at the CHU’s rehabili- tation centre for this kind of trauma.

“Jules’s neurological status remains unchanged. He is unconscious but able to breathe unaided.

“While there is no significant information to report, we take a great deal of comfort from the fact that Jules continues to fight, as we knew he would, and this has enabled the medical professionals caring for him to commence the planned, but very painstaking, programme of rehabilitation.”

They added: “As we reflect on the events of the past few months, we would like to acknowledge once again the overwhelming warmth and affection shown towards our son.”

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