Lewis Hamilton‘s old £8.5million supercar, which was made exclusively for him and can travel up to 217mph, has crashed in a tunnel – eight years after he too smashed it following a week of partying in Monaco.

The Pangani Zonda 760 LH – that stands for Lewis Hamilton – was sold by the Formula 1 star last year, which saw him make a huge £7million profit after buying the flashy purple vehicle for £1.6million.

The 38-year-old’s former vehicle now has a smashed windscreen and damage to its right-hand lights following the crash at Penmaenbach Tunnel on the A55 expressway in Conwy in north Wales yesterday.

Ethan Gale, a supercar photographer posted pictures of the damage on Instagram and wrote: ‘Very sad day in the motoring world this evening. A car I never thought I would see.

‘Ever since seeing this on YouTube driving around Monaco back in the day, it’s always been a dream car to tick off the list.

Lewis Hamilton’s old £8.5million supercar, which was made exclusively for him and can travel up to 217mph, has crashed in a tunnel – eight years after he too smashed it following a week of partying in Monaco

Lewis Hamilton’s former £8.5million Pagani Zonda LH supercar has been badly damaged following a crash in Conwy, north Wales

The car was sold by the 38-year-old Formula 1 driver last year for £8.5 million

‘Late this afternoon this Pagani Zonda 760 LH previously owned by Lewis Hamilton had crashed in the Penmaenbach tunnel, Conwy, North Wales.

‘Hopefully the car gets a full restoration and is back on the road in the future.’

The photographer added that the owner of the vehicle ‘is unharmed and shook up’.

Pangani Zonda 760 LH

Original price – £1.5million

Resell price – £8.5million

0-60mph – 2.6 seconds

Top speed – 217mph

BHP – 760

‘What exactly happened is to be a mystery,’ he said. ‘But rumours go; it accelerated in the tunnel and lost control to the rear hit the wall and spun it.

‘But the main thing is that the owner is okay. Cars can be repaired, people’s lives can’t.’

The Italian car was ordered from Horacio Pagani by the driver seven years ago.

The Zonda 760 LH can reach up to 217mph and can go from 0-60mph in an eye-watering 2.6seconds. It was one of the very Zonda models that has a manual fitted gearbox.

When he first bought the car, Hamilton showed his pride of joy off, posing next to the AMG powered Zonda in front of a picturesque view.

Back in 2015, just under a year since he first bought the car, Hamilton crashed the whip into three stationary vehicles while in Monaco.

The crash came after the driver had been celebrating for a week non-stop since winning the world championships.

He said: ‘It was a result of heavy partying and not much rest for a week and a half.

‘I am a bit run down. I have been non-stop and trying to fit training in at the same time and not getting a lot of sleep.

‘The last two days I have slept pretty much all day. I couldn’t believe how much I slept. I slept on the flight here. I usually sleep four or five hours but when you are training you need more than that.’

The Pangani Zonda 760 LH – that stands for Lewis Hamilton – was sold by the Formula 1 star last year, which saw him make a huge £7million profit after buying the flashy purple vehicle for £1.6million

The 38-year-old’s former vehicle now has a smashed windscreen and damage to its right-hand lights following the crash at Penmaenbach Tunnel on the A55 expressway in Conwy in north Wales yesterday

Ethan Gale, a supercar photographer posted pictures of the damage on Instagram and wrote: ‘Very sad day in the motoring world this evening. A car I never thought I would see’

The world champion’s accident happened in Monaco just before he was due to fly to Sao Paulo for that year’s Brazilian Grand Prix.

The crash came after he was criticised for sharing a video of him driving the car at speed on a public road in Monaco.

The Mercedes driver wrote: ‘Launch control!! This is one of my babies, I love driving this car. Guess the car?! #0-100 #realquick #boss.’

The Tweet was quickly deleted but fans were not impressed. One said: ‘Think you should auction it for a road safety charity after irresponsible behaviour in the video you posted.’