F1 ace Lewis Hamilton has lapped the Top Gear test track – in the wet.

British F1 star Hamilton – who earlier this year narrowly missed out on winning the Formula 1 championship by a single point – took to Top Gear’s test track in a bid to beat The Stig.

Hamilton raced around the Lotus-designed track in the old Suzuki Liana – the same car which other F1 stars, including Nigel Mansell and Damon Hill, used for their times.

But although setting the motorsport world alight in his debut F1 year, the 22-year-old Briton still had to take instruction from The Stig before setting out on his lap.

BBC officials have not revealed Hamilton’s time, but noted it was “fast.”

Speaking to Clarkson on Sunday night’s show, Hamilton joked about his father: “He truly believes he’s a better driver than me and that if he had been given the opportunity, he would be in F1 right now.”

Hamilton also describes his first ever season in F1, saying to Jeremy Clarkson: “It’s quite exciting when you’re flying towards a barrier headfirst, especially when you hit the gravel trap and you get some air. It’s pretty cool.

“I had a really good one this year at the beginning of the season. The team worked very hard to get two brand new cars out for the first test, so there’s me and Fernando testing and I shunted it in Valencia at 180mph backwards into a wall, and I remember going over the gravel backwards thinking ‘OK – this is going to hurt’, and bracing myself, and I put my head back, and it was actually quite a nice shunt.

“They couldn’t fix the car, they had to fly it all the way home and fix it…thankfully I didn’t get the bill!”

During the interview, Lewis also reveals that he has been watching Top Gear for many years, and that it is a dream for him to be on the show.

Sunday night’s show will also features singer James Blunt as the “Star in a Reasonably Priced Car” – in the Chevrolet Lacetti.

The episode with Lewis Hamilton will be screened this Sunday on BBC2 at 8pm.