Ferrari worth $450k smashed up an hour after it is bought

The Ferrari 430 Scuderia was reduced to a pile of smoking rubble following the crash. Photo / SYP Opertaional Support

A £260,000 ($454,000) Ferrari was reduced to smouldering ruins an hour after it was bought.

Pictures show the remains of a jet black Ferrari 430 Scuderia after it crashed off the side of a motorway and transformed into a fireball.

Police said the driver left the road in wet conditions and slid 50m across a field before the supercar burst into flames near Barnsley, South Yorkshire.

The driver, who escaped with cuts and bruises, said: "It was a Ferrari" with "a hint of damaged pride". police revealed.

Officers posted two pictures of the wreckage, beside the M1 near Barnsley, on Facebook.

Police found the slightly injured driver near the burning wreckage. Photo / SYP Operational Support

South Yorkshire Police Operational Support wrote: "Afternoon folks, were you stuck in traffic this afternoon on the M1 south around junction 37? If so, here's why.

"Officers were deployed to a single vehicle collision. The vehicle had left the carriageway and burst into flames.

"Road conditions were wet at the time and as officers arrived on scene it became clear there was a vehicle well alight.

"Colleagues from South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue were in attendance squirting water all over some kind of sporty motor 50 or so metres down a banking.

"As we are an inquisitive bunch, we found the driver and were amazed to see he only had minor cuts and bruises!

What a Ferrari 430 Scuderia should look like. Photo / Ferrari.com

"The serious part of this post: Over the past couple of weeks there has been a number of collisions where driving styles have not reflected the road & weather conditions - please take more care."

They updated the post a while later to say that excess speed did not appear to have contributed to the crash. The reason the driver lost control remains a very expensive mystery for the time being.

"Update: Following on from speaking to a number of witnesses officers do not believe excess speed was a contributory factor in this collision. All the collision investigators on Facebook, take note."