Back injury keeps Ferrari tester Bianchi in hospital

Ferrari young driver Jules Bianchi suffered a back injury in a crash in today’s GP2 race in Hungary, and will be out of action for a while.

Bianchi spun and was hit head-on by Ho-Pin Tung at the start of the race. He will likely miss the Spa and Monza races, and clearly his absence won’t do much for his career momentum. Ironically he is managed by Nicolas Todt, who had to deal with the Felipe Massa at the same track last year.

A Ferrari statement said: “Jules Bianchi, the talented young GP2 Series driver of the Ferrari Driving Academy, will be out of action for quite a long time following his accident on the Hungaroring circuit at the start of the first race of the seventh round of the championship. The Art Grand Prix driver fractured his second lumbar vertebra and is now recovering at Budapest’s AEK Hospital. The French driver, who never lost consciousness after the heavy impact of the accident that happened during the early stages of the race, will not be back in the cockpit until he has fully completed his rehabilitation programme.”