World champion Lewis Hamilton says seeing the impact technology has upon Formula One is as exciting as driving his Mercedes.

Hamilton won his fifth drivers’ title this year but as an 18-year-old worked within his father’s IT and network support firm in Stevenage.

“It’s been amazing to see: when I first started out in karting, it was obviously very basic, but then as I progressed to cars tech became a key factor,” he told TechRadar at the HPE Discover event in Madrid.

“When I got to Formula One and saw how much technology is used, for example using the robot in building the engines, it’s fascinating – they plug a bunch of digits to the software and it churns out this incredible piece of work.

“It’s fascinating to be a part of it…the driving part is really the coolest part for me, but going to the factory and seeing the work of all these individuals and seeing the evolution of the technology is just as exciting.”

Hamilton has been particularly fascinated by seeing racetrack tech finding its way into road vehicles.

“I remember flying to Boston in 2009 for the first time to see the new technology with batteries – and now seeing how that technology has evolved into road cars to become a massive part of the future,” he said.