Jeremy Clarkson tells how he saw Richard Hammond fly off the road in the ‘biggest crash I have ever seen’
JEREMY Clarkson has told of the moment he feared pal Richard Hammond was dead after seeing his £2million supercar burst into flames.
The former Top Gear star said his "knees turned to jelly" when he saw plumes of smoke billowing after Hammond's car flipped in the air in horror crash.
Jeremy Clarkson wrote on : "It was obvious from the skid marks what had happened.
"He’d lost it somehow on the final bend after the finishing line and had plummeted down one bank onto a road lower down the hill, which had caused his car to flip.
"The big question was: had he managed to get out. No-one knew.
"I can feel it now; the coldness. My knees turning to jelly."
TV presenter Hammond, 47, lost control of his £2million electric sports car while with his co-stars Jeremy Clarkson and James May filming the new series of The Grand Tour in Switzerland.
May frantically screamed "Hammond's in there" as they watched the vehicle burn to the ground - with no idea whether their friend had got out alive.
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Clarkson added: "Then came news from a nearby marshal that he wasn’t. That he’d got out before the fire started.
"And that “his body” – that what they said – was behind a screen at the bottom of the hill.
"I couldn’t see Hammond. I didn’t want to see him. Not after a crash that big.
"What I do know is that I genuinely thought he was dead.";
about the terrifying ordeal - and managed to make a joke about his latest accident.
In a video shot from his hospital bed and posted on , he is seen with his leg strapped up and raised.
He said: "Hello. Yes, it's true. I binned it. Again.
"Net result being I'm here in a hospital in Switzerland."
In the clip, shot by his longtime co-star James May, he added: "I want to thank all of the medical professionals who got me by air ambulance from the crash to this hospital.
I'd like to say thank you to James May, who smuggled a bottle of gin in for me last night.
"Most of all I'd like to say sorry to my wife Mindy and my daughters... for being such a colossal [idiot]".
Hammond's latest crash came just a month after he swore off stunts to make sure he is around to see his two daughters grow up.
He told : "I’ve a beautiful wife and two beautiful daughters.
"I’m not going to risk leaving them..."
Richard and his wife Mindy are parents to two girls, Izzy, 16, and Willow, 13.
Richard was driving a Rimac supercar, which can reach speeds of 220mph, around a tight bend when he lost control and the car plunged 100ft down a hill, flipped a number of times before landing upside down.
The presenter, who nearly died in a car crash in 2006, is now being treated in hospital with serious injuries – the worst of which is a fractured knee.
A video shows the TV star left the road and mounted a grassy verge where he managed to be pulled from the burning vehicle.
He was attending the famous Hemburg time trial in St Gallen, Switzerland, when he suffered the crash.
The motor burst into flames just seconds after Richard managed to crawl out of the smashed window.
Clarkson and May ran towards the car, convinced their longtime pal was dead inside but found him alive mere yards away from the flaming car.
Andy Wilman, executive producer of The Grand Tour told the : "Jeremy and James both raced down to the scene of the crash as soon as it happened. When they saw the wreckage on fire they thought Richard was dead. It was really bad.
“They were staggered he had got out of it alive, because there was just nothing left. Everyone is so relieved.
"If Richard had been a few seconds slower getting out, he would have been incinerated.”
Andy said he had spoken to Richard in hospital and that the presenter was "very shaken" but also "conscious and quite lucid".
He added: “All he said about his injuries was that his knee hurt a lot, which I’m not surprised about as it now has bolts in it and it is fractured. His only worry was about letting his wife and family know he was OK.
“He has been very lucky – it’s a miracle really and certainly another one of his lives gone!”
Jeremy also took to Twitter to say the the crash was incredibly "frightening", writing: "It was the biggest crash I've ever seen and the most frightening but incredibly, and thankfully, Richard seems to be mostly OK.".
Hammond, 47, had taken a smiling selfie with a fan just moments before the horror smash.
The Sun Online was the first to report the crash and a source told us: “Richard is conscious but very shaken.
“He is currently being treated in hospital for a fractured knee and having the once over. It’s quite incredible he’s come away from this with nothing more serious quite frankly.
“The crash was really bad. The car completely flipped and then burst into flames.
"There was real concern for Richard but the emergency services were quickly on hand and he’s a very lucky boy.
"It brought back horrendous memories of the 2006 crash for those who witnessed it."
An Amazon spokeswoman told The Sun: "Richard Hammond was involved in a serious crash after completing the Hemburg Hill Climb in Switzerland in a Rimac Concept One, an electric super car built in Croatia, during filming for The Grand Tour Season 2 on Amazon Prime, but very fortunately suffered no serious injury.
"Richard was conscious and talking, and climbed out of the car himself before the vehicle burst into flames.
"He was flown by Air Ambulance to hospital in St Gallen to be checked over revealing a fracture to his knee.
"Nobody else was in the car or involved in the accident, and we'd like to thank the paramedics on site for their swift response. The cause of the crash is unknown and is being investigated.”
Another show source said: “Richard has had a number of high-profile incidents and as a result there is always a raft of medical experts on hand.
“But there were real fears he had done some lasting damage when he went down the hill on Saturday.
“Jeremy, James and Andy Wilman, the show’s producer, were stunned when he was conscious afterwards.
“Richard sat up talking in the helicopter on his way to hospital.”
It comes just three months after The Sun revealed how he was left unconscious after falling off a motorbike while filming the car show.
He lay unconscious in the road in remote Mozambique, miles from medical help.
And 11 years ago Richard, affectionately nicknamed Hamster, almost died in a 288mph collision on BBC2 show Top Gear.
Dad-of-two Richard was in a coma for two weeks in 2006 after the jet-powered car he was piloting for Top Gear crashed.
Its right tyre blew as he tried to set a land speed record at RAF Elvington near York.
He was airlifted to hospital in Leeds. Richard later revealed he suffered depression, paranoia and memory loss due to brain damage.
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