Jules Bianchi crash: Lotus heavily criticised after posting ill-timed tweet to Marussia seconds after Bianchi's life-threatening crash

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Lotus Formula One team’s habit of taking an outspoken, tongue-in-cheek approach to social media once again proved to shame them on Sunday after they directly tweeted the Marussia team seconds after Jules Bianchi’s horrifying accident that has left him in a critical conditions.

Bianchi suffered serious head injuries after he collided with a recovery vehicle that was already attending to a crash involving Adrian Sutil. After initial confusion as to why the safety car had been deployed, suggestions that it was for either Sutil’s accident or the increasing rain were soon dismissed when it emerged Bianchi had also been involved in a much more serious collision.

Lotus soon issued an apology for their message, and explained that they had not realised the situation that was unfolding at the end of the Japanese Grand Prix.

They said: “Apologies for tweet, @Marussia_F1Team, we hadn't see the incident, hope all is well.”

Later on, they added: “All our thoughts and prayers go to @Jules_Bianchi, his team and his family tonight. #ForzaJules.”