YouTube star MrBeast crashes Formula E car in celebrity showdown

Alongside a number of social media influencers and celebrities, including Brooklyn Beckham and Emelia Hartford, MrBeast sat behind the wheel of a Formula E car for the first time. Taking place in Miami on Thursday, the YouTuber took part in the Evo Sessions event, and on his second lap, crashed the car.

The content creator James 'Jimmy' Donaldson, currently sat at 371 million subscribers on his main YouTube channel alone and coming off the success of the Prime Video series, Beast Games, joined 10 other celebrities behind the wheel of an FE car. Each of the eleven teams provided a car, hoping that they would come back in one piece. Most did.

The GEN3 Evo race car used for this event is the fastest accelerating single-seater in the world, beating a Formula 1 car to 60 mph thanks to its instant torque, reaching that speed in just 1.82 seconds. 

Unfortunately for the Cupra team, Donaldson wasn't able to keep all that power between the lines, and on his second lap, spun the car while driving behind the all-electric Porsche Taycan safety car. Spinning twice, the car hit the barrier sideways. Fortunately, the content creator wasn't hurt in the incident, and the car suffered only cosmetic damage. Donaldson was able to exit the machine under his own steam as the session came to a stop around him.

"My heart sank," he told the team, including driver Dan Ticktum, as they laughed with him over the crash.  "I thought, okay, now we're going to drive straight ahead - and then no more," he said.

Taylor Barnard, NEOM McLaren Formula E Team, Oliver Rowland, Nissan Formula E Team, Lucas di Grassi, Lola Yamaha ABT Formula E Team

Photo by: Andreas Beil

The two-day event was set up for celebrities and their followers to experience the new Gen3 Evo car. The full guest list was as follows, as per Formula E:

• Brooklyn Peltz Beckham, entrepreneur (UK)
• Sergio Agüero, former Premier League, La Liga and Argentina football player (ARG)
• Cleo Abram, tech content creator (USA)
• Emelia Hartford, actress and record-breaking car builder (USA)
• Vinnie Hacker, multi-hyphenate creative (USA)
• Tom Felton, actor (UK)
• Supercar Blondie, automotive creator and entrepreneur (AUS)
• JUCA, Leading automotive content creator and motorsports enthusiast (MEX)
• Driver 61, pro driver and creator (UK)
• Yes Theory's Ammar Kandil, YouTubers creators
• Theo Baker, sports content creator (UK)

Sergio Aguero also spun the car but kept it off the wall.

This highlights just how much training goes into racing cars. Each celebrity was given training, including simulator work, physical conditioning, and drive coaching, but it wasn’t enough to fully prepare them for the extreme power and handling of these high-performance electric race cars.