CNN)The world of motorsport was plunged into mourning Saturday by the news that Formula One driver Jules Bianchi had died, nine months after he suffered severe head injuries in the Japanese Grand Prix.
The 25-year-old Frenchman passed away Friday night at the hospital in Nice, southeastern France, where he was admitted following the October 5 accident, a family statement said.
"Jules fought right to the very end, as he always did, but today his battle came to an end," said the Bianchi family. "The pain we feel is immense and indescribable."
Bianchi's death is the first resulting from a Formula One Grand Prix accident since that of Ayrton Senna in San Marino in 1994.
The team for which he raced -- Marussia, now known as Manor F1 -- tweeted that it was "devastated to lose Jules after such a hard-fought battle."
