Rowan Atkinson involved in F1 crash

Good news first - Rowan Atkinson has emerged relatively unharmed after he was involved in a car accident in his McLaren F1 last night.

Bad news - the McLaren F1 hit a lamppost and caught fire.

Top Gear's fastest Star in a Reasonably Priced Car reportedly spun the £600,000 hypercar several times along the A605 at Haddon near Peterborough, before hitting said lamppost and becoming a bit on fire.

Thankfully, Atkinson was able to climb out of the Macca unaided and waited with a passing motorist until the emergency services arrived.

It's not the first time he's crashed the 627bhp, BMW V12-engined, CFRP-bodied masterpiece though. Soon after buying it, he had a collision with a Rover Metro.

His condition was this morning reported as stable, only suffering a minor shoulder injury. No reports on the condition of his beloved F1 though; the same F1 he very graciously lent to Top Gear when Hammond went to the desert to size up the Bugatti Veyron's many horsepowers and many torques.

And just a few weeks back, the famous petrolhead and part-time racer came down to Top Gear's rather shabby headquarters to give our Kia ceeapostrophe-dee the ride of its life, setting a scorching lap time of 1m 42.2 seconds and thus taking the prize of the fastest SIARPC. Also, he proved quite emphatically that he is the only man in the history of the universe to say ‘airbag' and ‘Bob' and make it funny.

Exclusive gallery: Rowan Atkinson comes to Top Gear