American-Ecuadorian Formula Two driver Juan Manuel Correa has been placed in an induced coma after suffering acute respiratory failure following last weekend’s crash which killed Frenchman Anthoine Hubert.

In a statement on Saturday, his parents said the 20-year-old was in a critical but stable condition in a London hospital.

Correa suffered a spinal injury and fractured his legs in Saturday’s crash during the support race for the Belgian Formula One Grand Prix at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit.

He was transferred to Britain on Tuesday from a hospital in Belgium.

Correa, a development driver for the Alfa Romeo F1 team and grandson of former Ecuadorian president Rodrigo Borja, underwent more than four hours of surgery in Liege after the accident.

“As time has progressed, new complications have surfaced as a consequence of the massive impact he suffered Saturday in Belgium,” Juan Carlos and Maria Correa said.

“On his arrival to London, Juan Manuel was diagnosed with acute respiratory distress syndrome. This is an injury considered common in high-impact accidents such as this one.”

The family said Correa had fallen into acute respiratory failure and been placed in an “induced state of unconsciousness and under ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support)”.

“We are confident that our son will surprise us like he always does with his tremendous fighting will and strength and will recover completely,” the statement added.

Hubert, 22, died after his car was hit at speed by Correa’s after the French driver had gone off into the barriers at Spa’s fast Raidillon corner.

He was the first driver fatality at a Formula One race weekend since Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger were killed at Imola in 1994.

many Formula Two drivers are affiliated with grand prix teams. Britain’s George Russell, with Williams in 2019, won the F2 title last year after Monegasque Charles Leclerc, now at Ferrari, in 2017.