Richard Hammond's wife Mindy 'wants to keep £7million Bollitree Castle in the divorce' after he confirms end of their 28-year marriage - suong

Richard, who was driving up a hill in the Rimac Concept One electric car when he crashed last month, said previously: 'It was the very last run of the day, at the top just over the finish line it got away from me and I went over the edge.'

He then hurtled 100 metres down a hill, narrowly avoiding crashing into a house and leaving craters in the cliffside.

He told DriveTribe: 'I was very much aware at that point that it being a hillclimb and me being at the end of it, I would be at the top of the hill.

'So what followed was getting down the hill very very quickly.

'I was aware that I was up, that I was high, that inevitably the car was going to come down, and of course there was a moment of dread 'Oh god, I'm going to die'.

'Also I was aware that the car was taking just such a beating.'

He added: 'What was probably going through my mind was 'well this is it'. I thought 'I've had it'.'

Richard said he was conscious all the way through the crash, saying: 'You're aware of sky, ground, sky, ground, sky, ground' and comparing it to 'being in a tumble dryer full of bricks going down a hill'.

He was left with a knee injury from the crash, and said: 'I do remember saying to drag me by my arms not my legs because I think I've broken that leg.'

However, the injury did not alarm his daughter Isabella, who told him: 'Daddy it looks like you've fallen over in the playground,' he said.

Mindy had also previously shared in a newspaper column that she and Richard only enjoyed two minibreaks together throughout their marriage.

Writing for The Daily Express in 2017, she said: 'In our 28 years together we have managed precisely two 'romantic mini-breaks' – one in the first year of our relationship when we camped in Buttermere and woke to soggy bottoms and four inches of water and the other a quick trip to Rome a couple of years ago when we were both so exhausted we found ourselves nodding off after lunch and missing most of our sightseeing time.'

Richard shared the news of his marital split on X, writing: 'A little update from us; this Christmas we were together as a family and this year we will still be a family but just structured a bit differently.

'Our marriage is coming to end, but we've had an amazing 28 years together and two incredible daughters.

'We will always be in each other's lives and are proud of the family we created.

'We won't be commenting further and sincerely hope that our privacy and that of our children will be respected at this time. With Love, Richard and Mindy.'

Richard's 2017 crash, which left his co-stars Jeremy Clarkson and James May fearing he had been killed, came 11 years after he suffered life-threatening head injuries following a high-speed crash as he filmed Top Gear in 2006.

The presenter was in a coma for two weeks following the 288mph accident, but made a full recovery.

Richard also recently raised fears that his injuries might have caused onset dementia.

Talking on The Diary of a CEO podcast, he said: 'I worry about my memory because it's not brilliant. I can still read a script and deliver it but my long-term memory is not brilliant.

'I have to write things down and work hard to remember them sometimes. It might be the age, it might be the onset of something else, I worry about that. I do, I do. I should probably have a look and find out, because I do.'

Host Steven Bartlett asked him: 'Are you scared of finding out?'

He said: 'I am because it was a bleed on the front. It could mean there is an increased risk. I need to find out. I've been too scared to do it. I need to do it.

'Weirdly on the way here, I had to stop off for a medical for a production. They ask 'Have you been involved in any accidents?' I'm like 'Woooah! Can I have another piece of paper please?'

'I need to book myself in for one of those mid-life MOTs and check everything. I wanted to ask them to check there is nothing going awry up here [pointing to his head]. But I chickened out. Didn't.

'That means I probably need an MRI scan but at 53, your memory does start to get a bit... they call it lost key syndrome.

'I am quite forgetful, generally thinking about something else, the next thing and therefore I do drop the ball, I forget stuff a lot. That's just me. That's who I am.'

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Mindy previously warned Richard that he was on his 'last chance' in 2017 after he was involved in the second high-speed crash

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Mindy had also previously shared in a newspaper column that she and Richard only enjoyed two minibreaks together throughout their marriage (pictured in 2006)

After the crash, which saw his Vampire jet car lose control and flip upside down after a tyre burst, he admitted to suffering from depression.

He said: 'I have no recollection because there was the frontal lobe bleed. I was just decelerating upside down, using my head as a brake, which isn't good for you.'

He added: 'Mindy [his wife], was told by the doctors that a frontal brain lobe injury would possibly lead to me having a greater propensity for obsessive compulsion and depression and paranoia.

'Mindy was like, 'You didn't meet him before the crash, did you?' which is quite funny to be fair. I think I did suffer a bit, I suffered all of those things to a degree.

'Some of them were really weird moments and I still get an echo of it.

'I remember having been institutionalized for a really long time in hospitals and in recovery... I would be coming into London to do something.

'I would open the wardrobe door and just look at all the shirts and just trying to work out.. it was too much. I found choice really difficult for quite a long time.'

He continued: 'Feeling your emotions derailed or interfered with because of a neurochemical imbalance, it's just chemicals and electricity.

'I was walking across the drive of my house and I felt this sudden welling, this surge of love in my chest and I thought, 'What's that?'

'Eventually I identified it, I had walked past my old Land Rover, which I do love but only because I quite like it, but it had just triggered this absolutely... I thought 'Blimey'. It made me think.

'If emotions can be that profoundly affected by what was just a mix-up up of chemicals and electricity in my head, then I am more aware of things.

'Now, I don't listen to my emotions too closely if I am very, very tired or if I have had a big night out with the boys the night before.

'If I drink red wine I do not tune in to see what I think about anything. It's irrelevant for a day. Those are the rules.

'I was angry for a while, Anger is a problem when recovering from a brain injury. I wanted a T-shirt that said on the front, 'I am OK, stop asking' and on the back, 'I am still poorly, you know'.'