Amon 'blown away' by contemporary F1

Amon, 59, is still a close follower of grand prix racing from his farm in New Zealand and has been a contracted Toyota development driver for many years, largely working on suspension components.

"I'm just totally blown away by the scale of the whole thing!" Amon said. "It's just mind blowing. It's always interesting to an enthusiast but I think last year was a bit of a yawn and it's good to see that some of the driver aids will be taken away later in the year. I think that has to be good. There shouldn't be too many things that interfere with the fundamentals of driving.

"Looking at these things now, I don't think I'd even know how to get one out of the pitlane. I sat in a Williams at Goodwood in '97 but it's even changed a lot since then. If they went back to clutches and a gearstick I'd quite fancy a go.

"The positive thing, of course, is that the safety is so much better these days. I was relatively young when I packed in at 32 and that was a factor, along with all the travelling. I'm doing a book with Eoin Young at the moment and we thought we might devote a chapter to absent friends. But then after just a couple of minutes you realise just how long the list is..."