Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsFormula 1

Minute's silence confirmed for Bianchi in Hungary

A minute's silence will be observed in memory of Jules Bianchi ahead of this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix, it has been confirmed.

Bianchi passed away last Friday following nine months in a coma as a result of an accident at the Japanese Grand Prix in 2014. While a number of drivers attended his funeral in Nice and are likely to carry their own tributes this weekend, the race organisers have confirmed a minute's silence will be held on the grid at 13:45 local time.

Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg have both vowed to race with Bianchi in mind.

"I will be carrying Jules with me in my prayers and thoughts, not only this race but for the rest of my driving days," Hamilton said. "I know he'd want us to race hard as he did, and so I will."

"It has been a very emotional week," Rosberg added. "The drivers paid our final respects to Jules and said farewell. He was a very talented driver and a good guy. My thoughts in these days are with his family and close friends. Everyone will be sharing the same feelings in the paddock this week - but we must race on and race hard for Jules as he would have wanted to be doing himself."

Jules Bianchi: 1989 - 2015

I wish I had known Bianchi better - Hamilton

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.