Formula 1 'too difficult' to watch: Jules Bianchi's father

The father of late Formula 1 star Jules Bianchi said it is still "too difficult" to watch the sport, as the first anniversary of his son's fatal crash at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix approaches.

F1 returns to the Suzuka circuit here this weekend for the first time since the 25-year-old French driver suffered severe head injuries when his Marussia car skidded off the wet track in poor light and collided with a recovery crane last October.

"Perhaps in a few months, a few years, I can see again a Grand Prix, I don't know, but for the moment, it is too difficult," Philippe Bianchi, father of Jules, was quoted as saying by BBC on Wednesday.

"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," said the heartbroken father from his home in France.

"Jules is missed a lot by all his family, all the fans, all his friends, it is very difficult," he said.

Bianchi became the first F1 driver to die from injuries sustained in a Grand Prix since Ayrton Senna in 1994 when he died in hospital in France in July having never regained consciousness.

"When the months pass and you see Jules every day the same and you understand at that moment that it's not possible for him to come back because the damage is too important," Philippe said.

"I think that Jules is with me now but it's difficult because he phoned me and his mother every day, and now it is one year that I can't speak with Jules and his mother can't speak with him," Philippe said.