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Los Angeles - James May thinks the BBC are taking a risk by "reinventing" Top Gear.
The 53-year-old television presenter - who used to front the programme alongside Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond - hopes the new-look motor show, with his successor Chris Evans at the helm, will "do well".
He said: "I'd like to see Chris' Top Gear do well. It's a ballsy call to continue it. I wouldn't want to be the one presenting it when we'd just finished, but there must be a way of reinventing it. We always said it would survive beyond us.
"I think the stories about Chris' version being in trouble might be an elaborate hoax, before it explodes onto our screens in brilliance.''
And James - who will be joined by Jeremy and Richard for a new motoring show on Amazon Prime - also admits he was ''surprised'' to learn the broadcaster was showing re-runs of the programme over the last month.
He told Radio Times magazine: "I was surprised they showed lots of Top Gear compilations over Christmas.
"I thought, 'Oh, so now they're celebrating us', but I also thought it's harsh on Chris Evans.
"Just as he's trying to launch his version of the programme, the BBC is saying, 'Look how brilliant it was before.' "
Top Gear is set to return to screens in May.
