Felipe Massa has warned Ferrari that age will play a part when Lewis Hamilton joins in 2025 – just like it did for Michael Schumacher in the latter stages of his career.
Hamilton brought his illustrious Mercedes career to an end this month and will officially join Ferrari in the New Year.
The British racing superstar will be hoping to be challenging back at the front of the grid on a regular basis after several frustrating years with the Silver Arrows.
Ferrari pushed McLaren close in the Constructors’ Championship this past season to suggest they are on the right track to make even more progress in 2025.
Lewis Hamilton will be 40 at the start of next season
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Despite approaching his 40th birthday next month, Hamilton remains one of the most talented drivers on the F1 grid.
And Massa, who agonisingly missed out on a world title to Hamilton in 2008, agrees with Ferraris decision to go with the veteran.
However, Massa pointed to Schumacher’s final years in F1, when he finished behind team-mate Nico Rosberg in each of their three seasons together, as a warning sign to Ferrari.
“If you asked me if I would hire Hamilton, as the head of Ferrari, as a driver, yes, I would, without a doubt,” he told Estadao.
“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.
“I’m talking about myself, these days I need to train much more physically than I used to.
Michael Schumacher struggled to compete with Mercedes
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“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.”
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Hamilton was unable to finish ahead of George Russell in his final season with Mercedes and ended the year with a 24-6 qualifying record in favour of the younger Brit.
The seven-time world champion cut a frustrated figure in the final few months of the season and even admitted to being “not fast anymore”.
He added: “I’m just slow. Same every weekend. Car felt relatively decent. You know, no issues. Not really much more to say.”