Lewis Hamilton believed in my Paralympic ambition with medal prediction – hopefully I can do him proud

Billy Monger has set his sights on the Paralympic Games in 2028 and fulfilling a prediction from Lewis Hamilton nine years ago.

The former racing driver is training for the triathlon, which combines swimming, cycling and running.

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In April 2017, Monger had a life-changing crash at Donnington Park in British Formula 4 and became a double amputee.

The Surrey-born presenter of the Paralympic Winter Games for Channel 4 had aspirations of becoming a Formula 1 driver as he came up the ranks alongside Lando Norris and George Russell.

After his accident, a fundraising page was started, and it raised over £500,000 with F1 drivers like Jenson Button, Max Verstappen, and Hamilton donating.

The 26-year-old announced only two months after his crash that he would return to racing, and by July, he had tested a race car modified with special hand controls that allowed him to regain his racing license.

Monger and his parents later pushed for the FIA to change its rules, which it did, allowing disabled drivers to modify their cars if they passed safety checks.

He then became interested in other careers and became a commentator and analyst for many sports, including Motorsport and Parasport events.

He also moved into doing triathlons, which has involved him raising money for charity, including ‘Billy’s Big Challenge’, which raised over £3million for Comic Relief.

Monger spoke to talkSPORT about his new challenge and said: “I did a challenge for Comic Relief at the end of 2024, and I broke the Ironman world record for a double amputee.

“My trainer at the time was the Irish team’s coach in Paris at the Paralympics for triathlon, so he clearly has a lot of experience in the field.

“He’s now moved to Team GB, and he told me if it’s something you want to do, then consider it.

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“At the time, it was the fittest I’ve ever been, and I became immersed in the sport.

“I wanted to carry on my sporting journey and do something in it rather than be on the other side of a microphone.”

In 2017, Hamilton compared Monger to former F1 driver Alex Zanardi, who also became a double amputee and went on to win four individual Paralympic medals.

The Ferrari driver said, “I have all the belief, or hope that Billy will be able to do something similar.”

And Monger exclusively told talkSPORT.com: ” At the time, he didn’t know, I didn’t know what my future would hold.

” I went back to racing and won races. Obviously, the Paralympics, in terms of disability sport, is the biggest event.

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“So it’s very understandable why that was one of the potential avenues he thought I could go down.

“And it’s taken a few years since then for me to naturally find my way to the Paralympics, but I’m on my own journey now, and hopefully I can do him proud.”

Speaking on the mentality it takes to have resilience in his personal situation, Monger said: “I think that’s one thing racing drivers are very good at doing.

“When we’re in the car, we’re racing drivers, and all we care about is going fast and winning races.

He complimented Hamilton back and added: “For him, he wins Grands Prix and World Championships.

“He’s done that plenty of times in the past with stories out in the media and bits and pieces.

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“If there’s a man that has experienced that, juggled that, I think it’s Lewis.

“He’s had a lot of eyeballs and attention on him basically since he got into Formula One because he hit the ground running and started winning Grands Prix and fighting for World Championships back in 2007.

“He’s coming out into his 19th season now of basically being one of the biggest names in the sport and having the spotlight on him.”