Former Top Gear presenter James May has suggested that the show's format would need some alteration if it were to return.

May presented the BBC motoring show with Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond until 2015 when they left to host Prime Video’s The Grand Tour which concluded this year.

Top Gear carried on with various new presenters in that period including Chris Evans, Matt Le Blanc, Chris Harris, Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff and Paddy McGuinness 

The BBC “rested” Top Gear for the foreseeable future after Flintoff was injured in a crash on the test track at Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey during filming in December 2022.

'Top Gear was very much of its time'

Speaking to The Telegraph, May says he thinks the show is unlikely to keep to the same format if it were to return.

He explained: “Top Gear was very much of its time. Social attitudes towards the car have changed quite a bit. These days, it’s become more political.”

May also believes that Top Gear was often accused of being things it wasn’t.

He said: "I don’t think it was sexist or misogynistic. It was just painfully honest. It was a view of the world, distorted through the eyes of people who were unreasonably concerned about cars.” 

The 61-year-old was also asked if the show perhaps offer an "admittedly highly entertaining vision of masculinity at its most basic and vulgar".

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In response, May said: “I’m a bit conflicted about this. I own an orange Ferrari with gold wheels. Part of me does feel that cars like that are a cry for help. I sometimes think that flashy supercars are for men that worry that women don’t find them interesting any more.

“But really, Top Gear was a sitcom panto cum travel show.

“We also exposed the folly of it all, while accepting we were a little bit guilty. We were a bit bratty but I think people quite like that.”