Update: Motorsport Community Raises Nearly £500k For Severely Injured F4 Driver
The motorsport world was rocked by the horrific crash British F4 driver Billy Monger suffered during a race at Donington Park on Sunday.
Monger collided with the stationary car of Patrik Pasma, who was recovering from a spin, during the final race of the weekend. It took almost two hours to extract Monger from the car before he was airlifted to hospital.
He is in a critical but stable condition and has been placed in an induced coma, with his vital signs “showing progress”. Sadly, the incident has resulted in Monger having both his lower legs amputated. He is expected to be woken up from the induced coma in the next few days.
Monger was starting his second season in British F4, scoring multiple podiums in his rookie season last year.
His JHR Developments team boss Steven Hunter set up a Just Giving page with the target of raising £260,000 for Monger’s recovery, rehabilitation and care. The motorsport community quickly came together to help spread the word about Monger’s story and the fundraising page, with the target being reached within the space of just a few hours.
Messages have flooded in on social media from all over the world, offering their well-wishes and support to Monger and his family.
Over 10,000 donations have come in for the fundraising page, with over £490,000 raised so far (as of Thursday afternoon) – over £200,000 more than the original target. Racing drivers from across motorsport have showed their support, including F1 champions Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button and race winners Mark Webber and Felipe Massa.
Button donated £15,000 to the fundraiser for Monger - an incredible display of kindness from the former McLaren driver.
The strength and response from the motorsport community has been outstanding and brought something positive to a deeply heartbreaking situation.
If you would like to donate to help Monger’s recovery and care, you can do so on the Just Giving page here.
Update
Hunter gave further details on Monger’s condition on Thursday, telling Autosport he had been woken from the induced coma, “was breathing on his own and talking, to a degree”. He added:
“He’s aware of his injuries. He’s exceptionally positive about the situation - he’s sat there working out how to use a clutch on the steering wheel with his hands. That’s Billy. There’s a long, long road ahead, he’s going to go through some hard times, but I’m sure with the character he has he’ll come through it.”
As of early Thursday evening, the fundraising total has surpassed £550,000.
Comments
Thank you for finally posting this! I was commenting and posting like crazy to try and get people to donate to Billy #BillyWhizz
How old is he? he looks REALLY young
17.
A true racer,
Waking up from a coma without legs then trying to figure out how to work the clutch with his hands.
This kid is my hero
What a legend
Shame that didn’t go towards research for a disease.
The Racing Community. Competition. Rivalry, Speed, Skill, and most of all: Support.
Wow, the support is much wow. Glad to see he is well on the road to recovery
Amazing sportsmanship. Not always is everything a dog eat dog situation, as shown.
He had to have his legs amputated
such a shame
I think Max Verstappen donated 15 thousand