The father of injured Formula One driver Jules Bianchi has spoken about the messages of support from the racing community, while the Frenchman continues to fight for his life at Mie General Hospital in Yokkaichi, Japan.

The 25-year-old Marussia driver suffered severe head injuries after losing control of his car at a rain-soaked race in Suzuka. Bianchi spun off the track and crashed into a recovery vehicle attending to Adrian Sutil's crashed Sauber.

Bianchi was taken to hospital and remains in a 'critical, but stable' condition.

Drivers paid respect to Bianchi before the weekend's Grand Prix in Sochi, carrying messages of support on their helmets and standing in a silent circle on the track.

Meanwhile, there has been an outpouring of goodwill messages from his colleagues, including Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa and Nico Rosberg.

"I have never seen anything like it. We are sure Jules can feel all this love and energy," Jules' father Philippe said in Italy's Gazzetta dello Sport.

"[Lewis] Hamilton has written us a lovely E-mail in which he told us, if he can do something for us, he is always there.

"The situation is desperate," he added. "Whenever the telephone rings, we know that it could be the hospital to tell us that Jules is dead.

"One day the situation looks better and then the next day, bad. The doctors don't really comment. The damage from the accident was huge, so you never know how these things will develop.

"Jules is strong," he goes on to say in the Italian newspaper. "He never gives up."

rd/glb (dpa)