In the month that Jules Bianchi has battled for his life after crashing into a recovery truck at the Japanese Grand Prix, his Marussia team has gone into administration and Formula One has agonised over race safety.
The 25-year-old Frenchman has lain in a hospital at Yokkaichi near Suzuka in a "critical but stable" condition unaware of the mounting controversy since his October 5 crash.
In a rare public comment, Bianchi's father Philippe said his son was in a "desperate" state.
And having suffered a traumatic brain injury when his car smashed into the truck at an estimated 200 kilometres (125 miles) an hour, Bianchi could stay in this condition for months.
Marussia may not exist when any change comes. The team has gone into administration as it struggles to find finance to keep racing.
The Bianchi family meanwhile maintains hopes that their "fighter" son will improve.
There have been unconfirmed reports that Bianchi could be moved to the same hospital in Lausanne, Switzerland where Formula One ace Michael Schumacher was treated after his ski accident.
Another former world champion Emerson Fittipaldi is part of a high-level International Automobile Federation (FIA) panel that will recommend new safety measures before a December 3 meeting of the governing body.
Philippe Bianchi has talked of a "traffic accident" rather than a racing crash.
Bianchi's car slid off the track made treacherous by a rainstorm as the mobile crane was lifting Adrian Sutil's Sauber off the track. A few seconds earlier Bianchi could have hit track marshals who had been stood there.
The final FIA report on the accident is likely to spread the blame.
Formula One observers have highlighted three possible reasons that contributed to the Bianchi crash.
