Verstappen to Ferrari? Hamilton ‘a Bit Too Old’ for Team’s Future Plans

Lewis Hamilton “too old” for Ferrari, claims former driver Eddie Irvine

Lewis Hamilton is finally finding his groove at Ferrari, but some think he might be past his prime. After struggling early on, the seven-time world champion has shown real improvement in the last two races in the Netherlands and Italy, qualifying much closer to teammate Charles Leclerc.

But former Ferrari driver Eddie Irvine isn’t holding back with his criticism.

“Problem with Lewis, he came a bit too old,” Irvine told Sky F1. “But he won seven World Championships, so there’s always a price.”

Hamilton isn’t the only target of Irvine’s tough assessment. He believes Ferrari is still dealing with the same issues they faced during his own time with the team.

“It’s very difficult, Ferrari, because they’re on their own in Italy,” he explained. “The British teams are all surrounded by other teams, and there’s cross pollination. It’s so much different, more difficult to be on your own down in Maranello.”

Being isolated has real consequences, according to Irvine.

“They have the image, they have the history, they have everything except they don’t have that cross pollination, and that’s really tough.”

## The Schumacher effect

Irvine pointed out how Michael Schumacher‘s star power transformed Ferrari in the past.

“Back in my day, you had Michael come, he was seen as by far the fastest driver,” Irvine said. “Because of that, Rory Byrne came, Ross [Brawn] came, and that whole team was built around the fact that Michael was another world.”

He sees parallels with today’s dominant force in F1.

“A bit like Verstappen is now, where if Verstappen went somewhere, he could take a lot of people. Without the whole system together, everyone’s, you know, at the same level. It’s tough, Formula 1’s tough.”

## Schumacher’s sacrifice

The journey wasn’t easy for Schumacher either. Irvine highlighted just how much the German legend gave up.

“Michael gave up a lot,” the Irishman continued. “Like Michael probably gave up two, three, maybe even more world championships to leave Benetton to go [to Ferrari].”

The early days were particularly challenging.

“Because the first few years, people have no idea how bad it was at Ferrari. Michael, he knew there was no point for him. He was so much better than everyone else. He just decided, ‘I’m going to go there. I’m going to see what I can do,’ which was amazing.”

It took time for the gamble to pay off.

“And he got there. But people forget, it took four years. He was always in the vicinity, but it was just, you could see he was driving the wheels off the thing to try and be there. So it was very easy for it not to happen.”

## Could Verstappen be Ferrari’s next savior?

Irvine doesn’t hide his enthusiasm about the possibility of seeing Max Verstappen in Ferrari red.

“I would love Verstappen to come to Ferrari. I think the two of them together would be sensational. I hope he doesn’t leave it too late like Lewis did,” Irvine concluded.

Despite Irvine’s criticism about Hamilton’s age, the Briton has actually made impressive progress. He’s closed the gap to Leclerc significantly at two very different tracks—Zandvoort and Monza—under completely different conditions.

The real test comes next year, though. That’s when both Hamilton and Leclerc will start fresh on equal footing.