The way I see it is he and two others made Top Gear what it is today. Whatever it was before the trio got big, I don't know. I didn't watch until 2005 or 2006. But since around that time, the show is synonymous with those three, with Clarkson being a bigger fan favorite than the others.
Clarkson made the show, to some extent, and he ultimately forced the BBC's hand to kill the very thing he made. I can't sympathize with him in this case. He literally forced their hand this time. After all the racist remarks he's made in the past, he still continued to ignore the BBC's "final" warnings. You just pity both sides in this case. Pity Clarkson for being a man-child, and pity the BBC for not being able to discipline Clarkson well enough early on to prevent it culminating into punching a producer.
I can't blame the producer. I'm mad he was involved because, fuck, why would you punch anyone, much less the guy that works his ass off behind the scenes for your show? Over food? I don't think Clarkson should have gotten away with just apologizing. And he didn't. I think the producer should have been allowed to make up their own mind on what the punishment was and ran it by the BBC disciplinary board before handing it down. Suspend him for the rest of the season. Dock his pay (though he has plenty of money, but...). I feel like Clarkson fucked the producer over still by getting fired. He'll have to find another job or, worse, have to endure creating Top Gear episodes that won't have near the same amount of viewership as before with Clarkson gone. I bet the other two leave as well.
What made TG special was the rapport the hosts had with viewers. Sure, bring in three more guys. I really like Chris Harris, actually. But how long will it take for them to establish their identity on a new Top Gear? And will it be enough to make people forget the previous hosts/Clarkson? I don't know. But I think it will flop. I don't even know what I'm hoping for in regards to the show. Bring in new people and have the issue I mentioned above? Jeopardize the show going out with a whimper in a few years if they can't salvage viewership?
Right now, I feel like Top Gear can get cancelled and I wouldn't feel a thing. I'd feel like it was a house fire and the three most important things got out alive. But I also want those three to land somewhere else. The Netflix suggestions are getting louder and I agree that it would be quite a rebound platform. I can handle not having the test track, regardless of if it belongs to the BBC or not. They can have a new "Stig" whose identity can be concealed with a Hijab or some shit. That's really it from the old show. You've got the hosts, it doesn't even have to be structured like TG was. The news, celebrity appearances, etc. Just give me a car show with those three being idiots and completing challenges.
If the Netflix thing were to happen, I doubt we see an episode before this time, 2017. And that's some shit right there. I still haven't watched the last episode, supposedly against TG USA, because I've been waiting for some hint of continuation of the show.