Richard Hammond
Richard Hammond is known as "The Hamster" to fans Getty Images

Richard Hammond has revealed the reason why he will never race again, saying that the horrific crashes that he has suffered in the past have made him realise that he would be "disrespecting" his family if he continues riding vehicles at high speeds.

"I don't think it would be well-received if I do it again," the 47-year-old said, adding that his wife of 15 years, Mindy, has already warned him that he's had "two out of three strikes".

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Speaking of his latest car crash, Hammond escaped death after losing control of his Rimac Concept One during a hill climb race in Switzerland earlier this year. He was filming the second series of Amazon Prime Video's The Grand Tour in the £2million ($2.66m) electric supercar, which flew 30 metres in the air after falling off the edge of the hill. The car rolled 100 metres on the ground and then burst into flames.

Hammond opened up about the car crash, saying his wife and daughters Isabella, 16, and Willow, 13, have not seen the footage.

"My family haven't seen the latest crash. I don't think they ever will. Mindy won't want to watch it, because she will just be really, really cross."

Hammond, who vividly remembers the car crash, said he could barely watch the footage of the accident, with his inner voice telling him: "Stop it you silly little sod, it's going to go wrong!"

"The car started to go round and I thought, 'That's that,'" he said. "I realised I was going to crash and the weird thing is that unlike my previous big crash, I didn't get a head injury so I can remember it."

"I remember being upside down in the air for quite a while and thinking, 'Well, the longer it's upside down, the worse it's going to be when I land.' And it was a hard landing," he said. "I was trapped inside and I couldn't get out. I struggled for a long time. I cut my hands trying to get out."

In 2006, Hammond was left in a coma for two weeks after crashing a jet-powered car while travelling at 288mph.