Richard Hammond has revealed he did not want to end The Grand Tour with Jeremy Clarkson and James May but accepted the decision because his co-stars were ready to stop. Speaking on the High Performance podcast, the 56-year-old said he would have carried on working with the pair.
Hammond on the Decision to Stop
Hammond said: "This time I didn't have any choice. I'd have carried on 'cause I would." When asked whether he told the others he was not necessarily ready to stop, he replied: "No, because if they were ready to stop, we had to stop. So I was ready to stop because the others were."
He added: "That's not because I'm easily swayed, it's because I wanted us to still be in that place. But if we're not all in that place, we're not in that. It's quite a complicated four-way relationship. A 25 year career together like that. And if we weren't all in that place of wanting to do it, then there was no, I wouldn't want to do it. 'cause it wouldn't work. Couldn't do it."
A 25-Year Partnership
The trio, along with executive producer Andy Wilman, had worked together since fronting Top Gear in 2003 until finishing The Grand Tour on Prime Video two decades later. Hammond explained that the team had always wanted to control how their time together ended.
He said: "So we couldn't be in control of the takeoff, let's be in control of the landing. And it really mattered to us that it was landed at a time in a place and in a manner of our choosing. And it was."
The Emotional Finale
The Grand Tour came to an end in 2024, with the trio returning emotionally to where they started on Top Gear. They planned to end the Prime Video series after an adventure in Zimbabwe, but instead drove to Kubu Island in Botswana, where they began their first Top Gear special in 2007.
At the time, May said: "22 years, almost a third of my life. This is going to hit me in quite small ways. Anyway, I hope it brought you a little bit of happiness."
Hammond said at a premiere for the final episode: "I never thought that what we do together would blow up as it had. I was excited when I got the job. Very excited, But I never dreamed it would grow into a career and life defining adventure and occasionally nearly life and career ending adventure. I can't pretend it isn't going to be a wrench ending this, because it is."
Future Plans
In the interview, Hammond also told podcast hosts Jake Humphrey and Damian Hughes he has ambitions to grow his current workshop, called The Smallest Cog, into a bigger venture. He said: "I wanna grow the business. I do wanna move towards, I want a hub. I want like a little roadhouse where people can come, can see the cars being worked on." He added: "I would love to build it so that I had a venue where there was a restaurant, a cafe and a museum and the cars from the show."
