Eddie Irvine's brutal Lewis Hamilton judgement amid Max Verstappen-Ferrari wish

Eddie Irvine wants to see Max Verstappen driving for Ferrari in the future and thinks such a partnership would be “sensational”.

The future of four-time world champion Verstappen has been a major talking point for much of the 2025 season as he found himself linked with the likes of Mercedes and Aston Martin before committing himself to Red Bull for 2026 at least.

But Verstappen refused to rule out a future move to Ferrari before ending his F1 victory drought by dominating the Italian Grand Prix.

"They have two drivers contracted for next year, so there is no discussion anyway. Now, is there a chance? Yes, there are a lot of chances in life for any kind of decision,” the Dutchman said ahead of last weekend’s race at Monza.

"Of course, at the moment that is not on the horizon, but who knows? I don't even know how long I'm driving in Formula 1, so there are still a lot of unknowns for me.

"It's always very difficult to know what is going to happen, right?”

Verstappen racing in red is something former Ferrari driver Irvine would love to see become a reality.

Has Lewis Hamilton made Ferrari move too late?

Irvine revealed his wish for Verstappen shortly after giving a brutal assessment of Lewis Hamilton’s switch to Ferrari.

Seven-time world champion Hamilton is enduring a tough debut season with Ferrari since completing a blockbuster switch from Mercedes over the winter. 

Hamilton has been comprehensively outperformed by teammate Charles Leclerc and has failed to score a grand prix podium in his first 16 races at Ferrari. 

The 40-year-old Briton finished sixth as he produced a strong fightback drive from a five-place penalty and 10th on the grid in his first race at Monza as a Ferrari driver. 

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

“It’s very difficult, Ferrari, because they’re on their own in Italy. 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. 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, you know, at the same level. It’s tough, Formula 1’s tough.

“Michael gave up a lot, like Michael probably gave up two, three, maybe even more world championships to leave Benetton to go [to Ferrari]. 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.

“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.

“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.”