Yesterday at 07:25
Max Verstappen has been warned not to follow in the footsteps of
Lewis Hamilton and leave it "too late" should he have any desire to
one day join Ferrari. Four-time F1 champion Verstappen was heavily
linked with Mercedes this year until the expiry of a clause in his
Red Bull contract just before the summer break that has placed any
move on hold until next season at the earliest. Verstappen,
however, now has the luxury of assessing the pecking order for next
season under the new power unit and chassis regulations before
making any decisions. It is not beyond the realms of possibility
that Ferrari is also on his radar, although the Scuderia currently
has a strong pairing of Charles Leclerc and seven-time F1 champion
Lewis Hamilton. Still, the latter has struggled in his first year
with the team. Former Ferrari driver Eddie Irvine believes
Hamilton, at the age of 40, was "too old" to join the Maranello
squad, with his best years behind him, despite his long-held desire
to race in red. Irvine is hoping that if Verstappen has any designs
on being a Ferrari driver, he decides to move on far sooner than
Hamilton did. "The problem with Lewis, he came a bit too old,
but he won seven world championships, so there's always a price,"
said Irvine, speaking to Sky Sports. Referencing his team-mate at
Ferrari for four seasons from 1996-1999 in Michael Schumacher, who
endured that period before going on to win five titles in a row to
take his tally to seven, Irvine added: "Michael gave up a lot.
"Michael probably gave up two, three, maybe even more world
championships to leave Benetton to go [to Ferrari]. "In the first
few years, people have no idea how bad it was at Ferrari. Michael
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, and he got there. "But
people forget, it took four years. He was always in the vicinity.
He was driving the wheels off the thing to try and be there, so it
was very easy for it not to happen. "But 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."
Verstappen 'another world' like Schumacher Irvine feels that a
Verstappen switch to Ferrari would have a knock-on effect, as was
the case when Schumacher left Benetton to join the Scuderia. "It's
very difficult [at[ Ferrari, because they're on their own in
Italy," said Irvine. "The British teams are all surrounded by other
teams, and there's cross-pollination. It's so much more difficult
to be on your own in Maranello. That's it. It's always more
difficult for Ferrari. "They have the image, they have the history,
they have everything except they don't have that cross-pollination,
and that's really tough. "Back in my day, you had Michael come; he
was seen as by far the fastest driver. Because of that, Rory Byrne
came, Ross [Brawn] came, and that whole team was built around the
fact that Michael was another world. "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 at the same level.
It's tough, Formula 1's tough," before then singling out McLaren
and its achievements, especially as an independent manufacturer.
"I'm amazed at what McLaren has done, from where they've come
from," said Irvine. "It just shows you it's possible. Ron Dennis
never thought that [winning a title as an independent] was
possible. And Zak Brown is really 10 out of 10. He's done an
amazing job."
