Okay, cheesy title I know but check this out... 'A teenage Formula 1 fan has been fitted with a top-of-the range prosthetic hand after writing a letter to Mercedes GP Petronas team principle Ross Brawn, the Daily Telegraph reports. 14-year-old Matthew James, who was born without a left hand, wrote a letter to the racing boss asking him for £35,000 in return for ad space on his artificial hand. He soon received a reply from the F1 team who said that while they couldn't fund the prosthetic themselves, they were so impressed by Matthew's letter they would love to help him raise money through donations from their fans and sponsors. Mercedes GP then teamed up with Touch Bionics, to design Matthew his own customized hand, the i-Limb Pulse, one of the most advanced artificial limbs in the world, capable of holding a pen, drawing and even catching a ball. ''My old artificial hand was not great, it had a pretty basic open close mechanism similar to a clamp. But with this one I can do everything, it is just like the real thing," a delighted Matthew explained. "It is going to make such a big difference to my life. It also looks really cool - the outer-shell is see-through so you can actually see the mechanics working. They are even going to put a little Mercedes badge by the wrist.'' BIG respect to Ross Brawn and those at Mercedes GP.
Beautiful. Well done Ross. Well done Mercedes. Good luck to the teenage fan and I hope, and am sure that, he has an enriched life because of it… 10/10; and kudos to Westy for this article.
Unbelieveable stuff. And F1 is just cars going round and round eh? Someday the scorning population will appreciate the technology for its capabilities and its benefit to society
Well done to all involved at Mercedes, nice to see a bit of fan to team interaction going on in this corporate world.
I hope we see a piece on this at spa by the bbc team and maybe they can spend my money on something I agree with and give the boy a great day out.
What a very nice thing to do and what a difference it will make to the young lad's life, after some unpleasant recent event's it helps restore one's faith in human nature ! Ross you are a star and putting the F1 leading edge technologies to very good use can do no harm either, Top man.
Mifune great link, so due to F1 tech and input the hand has come down from 35 grand to just 10 grand, that is brilliant, it's a bargain this will make so much difference to so many people, I'm speechless. Forca F1 infact
Was just about to post this...Ross Brawn is a legend, and clearly hasn't lost touch with the real world...top man
What a great story this is, hats off to Mercedes. The technology is just amazing, and what a great lad.
