After that horrific crash at the Japanese Grand Prix last year, Jules Bianchi succumbed to his injuries, the Formula One driver's family announced on Saturday.

Bianchi had been in a coma since the tragic accident in October last year, when he collided in full speed into a mobile crane which was being used on the side of the track to pick up another car that had crashed.

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Initial reports had suggested that Bianchi might pull through, but the longer he remained in a coma, the more bleak his future looked.

His family would give regular updates on his condition, with the latest from his father saying that there was very little improvement in his son's condition.

"You sometimes feel like you are going mad. For me it is more terrible than if he had died in the accident because we have no power to help him more," Philippe Bianchi, the driver's father, told radio station France Info earlier this week.

"Generally progress must be made in the first six months. It has been nine months and Jules has not woken up and there has been no significant progress.

"It is hard to get up in the morning when you are not sure if your son will live and when every day is like that. Time passes and I am less optimistic than I was two or three months after the accident, when we could hope for better progress."

And now, on Saturday, Bianchi's family confirmed the tragic news that everyone had been dreading.

"Jules fought right to the very end, as he always did, but today his battle came to an end," the statement said. "The pain we feel is immense and indescribable."

The family released an emotional statement in French on Bianchi's official Facebook fan page as well.

Bianchi's F1 team Manor also confirmed the sad news.

"We are devastated to lose Jules after such a hard-fought battle. It was a privilege to have him race for our team," Manor said in a statement on Twitter.