After years of speculation, the seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton will be joining Scuderia Ferrari in the 2025 season, where he will be donning the red in pursuit of his eighth world title. Reportedly, the Brit has signed a whopping $87 million for the 2025 season; he will be replacing the Spaniard Carlos Sainz to join Charles Leclerc, forming one of the best pairs in F1 history.
Despite Hamilton competing for Ferrari being the hottest topic in the F1 headlines, the former Ferrari driver Felipe Massa, who was the runner-up in the World Drivers' Championship in 2008 with Ferrari, has expressed that he wouldn't have signed Hamilton in Ferrari had he been the head of the team's F1 operations, the reason being his age factor.
Massa's bold claims on Hamilton
In a recent conversation, Massa shared that even though he has no doubts about Hamilton's ability to win races, considering the same, he would have signed him, but the only question he would have in his mind would be the British driver's age. He noted further that age matters in Formula One, and it has been catching up on Hamilton in recent seasons.
The Brazilian driver gave an example of former German legend Michael Schumacher and emphasized how he struggled in the later stages of his career.
"If you asked me if I would hire Hamilton, as the head of Ferrari, as a driver - yes I would, without a doubt, because of the talent he has. He is one of the most incredible drivers in F1. But because of his age, maybe not. Because of his age, if you look at the sport, age matters. And we have to understand how much age is weighing on him in this situation or not." Massa said.
"I'm talking about myself; these days I need to train much more physically than I used to. It's much harder to recover physically after a difficult race or an intense training session. Age takes its toll in some areas, that's normal. Age is something that has weighed negatively on several drivers, as it did for Schumacher," he added.
Felipe Massa's questions about Lewis Hamilton joining Ferrari have undoubtedly heightened fans' curiosity about what the British icon would bring to the Italian team's table.