'I HAMM TOAST!'
Richard Hammond relives the moment he feared he would be killed and tells how horror Grand Tour crash happened
The Grand Tour presenter escaped a burning £2million supercar in Switzerland earlier this month
RICHARD Hammond has told how he thought he was going to die following a horror crash while filming The Grand Tour earlier this month.
The presenter escaped a burning £2million supercar in Switzerland during filming, and was left suffering from a fractured knee - but he knows it could have been much worse.
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The 47-year-old's vehicle burst into flames just moments before he managed to escape it.
Speaking on the star said: "I was aware that I was up high, and that inevitably the car was going to come down.
"And yeah of course there was a moment of dread - 'Oh God, I'm going to die'.
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"And also I was aware that the car was taking just such a beating.
"I mean if you look at those craters, that's a big hole that's just impact and it looks like the thing has been dropped from space to leave a hole that big.
"So yeah I was probably going, 'Well this is it'.
"In fact that is what was going through my mind. I thought, 'I've had it'."
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“It was like being in a tumble dryer full of bricks. I was conscious that it was upside down. And obviously your brain is telling you that is not a good place to be.”
Hammond was in conversation with Mate Rimac, CEO of car manufacturer Rimac, as he opened up about the disaster.
Describing the aftermath of the crash, he said: "I was wriggling and writhing to get out which was a bit difficult because I had a normal seat belt on not a harness.
"I do remember saying to them drag me by my arms not my legs because I think I've broken that leg."
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But immobility following the smash hasn't got Richard down - he's even to make life easier.
The Rimac car he managed to escape, by speedily unstrapping himself and crawling out, had to be hosed down for eight hours after his crash.
Both Jeremy Clarkson and James May were present and feared Hammond was dead while paramedics treated him behind a screen.
Clarkson subsequently said the "inferno" crash was the "worst he'd ever seen".
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But Richard, who was winking at one of the show's crew minutes after escaping the car, has remained upbeat and even entertained fans with a jokey update from hospital after the smash.
He told them: "Yes, it's true - I binned it. Again.
"I'm here, in a hospital in Switzerland, this is my knee, that they're going to turn from this into this.
"They're giving me a Swiss Army knee hopefully later today. I'd like to thank all of the medical professionals who got me by air ambulance from the crash to this hospital and dealt with me ever since.
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"I'd like to say thank you as well to James May, who smuggled gin in for me last night. I shouldn't have said that out loud.
"And most importantly, sorry to my wife, Mindy, and my daughters, Izzy and Willow. I'm sorry for being such a colossal idiot. More news later!"
Hammond's crash came just over a decade after he sustained brain damage in a rocket car accident while filming Top Gear, speeding at 288mph.
And in March he was "badly hurt" in a motorbike crash in Mozambique.
The Grand Tour will return for its second series on Amazon later this year.
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