Billy Monger: Teenage racer who lost legs in crash vows to race again

• Video report by ITV News Correspondent Sejal Karia

A teenage racing driver who lost part of both his legs after a horror crash has vowed to get back behind the wheel again.

Billy Monger was racing in the Formula 4 championship at Donington Park on 16 April when he hit a stationary car.

The teenager was trapped in the wreckage for 90 minutes and has spent almost three weeks in hospital.

Billy, who turned 18 on Friday, said: "All the support just makes me more determined to get back in the car and get racing again. That's the goal."

• Aspiring F1 drivers Joe and Harry told ITV News that Billy Monger is an inspiration

His story has touched motor sport fans the world over who have raised more than £800,000 in his name after an online fundraising appeal

Former Formula 1 world champions Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button have also given their backing to the teenager known as Billy Whizz.

Billy said he was "lost for words" by the worldwide fund-raising appeal.

He also said it was "cool" to have seen seasoned F1 world champions Button and Hamilton take up his cause.

"It was weird, seeing them giving their support because they're obviously people you want to, you aim to be like them, at the top of the sport," the young racer said.

Billy's mother Amanda revealed the hospital set up a projector to screen the Sochi grand prix in Russia, where F1 teams had shown their support emblazoning their cars with the fundraising hashtag #BillyWhizz.

Amanda said: "They were awful circumstances, it's all your nightmares rolled into one and the hospital staff have helped us all through it.

"It's incredible. He's just the same Billy he's always been. He's always had to fight... I don't think people have seen the last of Billy."

Billy's dad Rob, 49, said: "It was very hard at first, but to see him how he is now after three weeks is just amazing.

"I can't wait - he's always had the passion and no matter what happens it will always be there. If he wants to get back in the car, that's fine by me. I'm not sure about his mum, but there we go," he added.

Billy's sister Bonnie, 16, was among those at the scene of the accident and spoke to him to keep him calm while he was tended to by paramedics.

She said: "The first week was hard when he was in intensive care, but as soon as he woke up he was in just such good spirits and that's lifted up everyone around him.

"Even just after it happened, he had such a positive attitude towards it. It wasn't like it was a burden, it was 'let's start again, let's make it work'."

Kirsty Measures, a staff nurse on the ward, said: "When Billy first came in he was quite unwell... he struggled to get to grips with what happened to him.

"But he has overcome it.

"Every day he has had a smile on his face, he's just accepted the situation and even during the hardest times he's still managed to have a laugh and joke about it.

The family are due to return home to Charlwood, Surrey, on Saturday after Billy's discharge from hospital.