Richard Hammond has said that he and James May "could have got there" as a two-man team on Top Gear after Jeremy Clarkson was axed in 2015, but insisted that leaving the show in solidarity was the right decision.
Appearing on the High Performance podcast on Thursday (22 October), the presenter reflected on the BBC's offer for him and May to continue with editorial control. He told hosts Jake Humphrey and Damian Hughes that the audience was loyal to the trio, and that going on without Clarkson would have been a "pretty savage time", but they could have managed.
Why the Trio Stuck Together
Hammond explained that the show's success depended on the three of them being together. "I'm not arrogant enough to think… I couldn't have done it all on my own. So, no, we had to stick together," he said.
Asked what Top Gear would have lost without Clarkson, Hammond pointed to the presenter's unique contribution. "Some of the chaos, the lunacy," he replied. "A lot of his ideas aren't physically possible, and they're not legal. So, the team had to go through them. But it had to be there. It had to have that spark of idiot genius."
The Instinctive Dynamic
Hammond also reflected on the trio's "instinctive" working relationship, which he said was key to their success. He described how, during long planning sessions for specials, the three would know without communicating who should react to what in any given situation.
"We knew without having to communicate, 'Right, that's how that will work'," he said.
The comments come as Hammond continues to look back on his time with Clarkson and May, who all left Top Gear following Clarkson's dismissal and later reunited for The Grand Tour.
