Would you ever imagine a 40-year-old guy traveling at 220mph at the toughest circuits in the world? Well, Lewis Hamilton has no problem doing just that at an age when most Formula 1 racers retire from the sport. Having debuted in the pinnacle of motorsports in 2007, the current Mercedes racer has had a long and fulfilling career with 7 World Championships and an eye-watering 104 Grand Prix wins. However, he still shows no signs of slowing down as he has agreed to a multi-year deal with Ferrari starting next year. But Hamilton’s Red Bull rival Max Verstappen disagrees with his penchant for staying on in F1 despite being in his 40s.

At only 17 years of age, when Max Verstappen stepped into Formula 1, he shattered the records as the youngest-ever F1 racer. Now, he is 26 and has earned himself three World Championships in these 9 years. While his F1 titles speak for his success in the sport, Max has a flourishing personal life outside of it too. The Dutchman is dating Kelly Piquet, the daughter of triple F1 title-holder Nelson Piquet since they went Instagram-official in 2021. You might have already spotted pictures of Max and Kelly with the latter’s daughter, Penelope, all over social media. To take care of his life away from the race tracks, Verstappen believes he will bow out of F1 much sooner than when he turns 40.

The legends that go around in Formula 1 town claim racers can be like Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel, who retired in their early 30s. Or they might be like Fernando Alonso, who still keeps going at it at 42. Now, Lewis Hamilton seems like he will go down Nando’s route with his new deal with Ferrari. By the time he moves to Maranello next year, he will already be 40. But Max Verstappen has his reservations about participating in F1 till he is of that age. Speaking on this, he said, “By then I will have had my fun, had my career, and then there will be time for me to do other things.”

Showing off his brilliant performance for Red Bull, Max Verstappen is now a world-renowned athlete who is unafraid of letting this fame go. He has admitted that he does not want to be as brave as Hamilton was when he took the gamble of signing a multi-year deal with a major team like Ferrari when he is toeing his forties. Verstappen claimed, “I don’t want to race until I’m 40 years old, traveling to 24 or 25 races a year and being away from family and friends. That, for me, is not a life. I love racing, but to a certain extent, and then it doesn’t matter.”

While the world is concerned with Hamilton’s advancing age, the 39-year-old has just shut off his critics with his 104th race win recently. And he has always dismissed talks about his age being a hindrance in his F1 pursuits.

Lewis Hamilton believes he can beat Russell at physical fitness at 39

When Hamilton hit his career slump after the Jeddah GP in 2021, he could not win a single Grand Prix to his fans’ disappointment. But the critics had a field day scrutinizing Lewis’ form as they said the time is ripe for him to retire from F1. The Briton, on the other hand, has never given in to his age on his Formula 1 journey. At one of his interviews in April of this year, the question regarding Hamilton being almost 40 came up. He brushed away the concerns about his age affecting his on-track performance with a good-natured joke on his teammate George Russell.

At just 26, George is even younger than the age at which Lewis Hamilton came into Mercedes. The young racer had regarded his current Silver Arrows teammate as his racing idol once. But now, they drive side-by-side, and the #7 racer believes there is no difference in his physical abilities (even though he is nearing 40) and those of Russell’s. So, Lewis said, “I don’t feel like I’m nearly 40 years old, I feel really young still. And I think he’s [George] got more problems physically than I do today.”

With a stellar record in Formula 1, Lewis Hamilton has already achieved all there is to achieve in this field. However, his seven World Championship titles have made him tie with Michael Schumacher for the spot of the F1 racer with the highest number of World Championship wins. Do you think Lewis has agreed to work with Ferrari, even at an age when most racers leave the sport, just because he is chasing an eighth World title victory? Comment below.