Hamilton turns 41: will it be resurrection or surrender?

41 candles Today, 7 January 2026, is a day of celebration at Ferrari. In fact, Lewis Hamilton blows out 41 candles on his second birthday as a Maranello driver. A year ago, in these times, the anticipation was enormous to see what the seven-time world champion’s impact on the ‘red planet’ would be. 24 GPs and 12 months later, the atmosphere is very different: Hamilton did not achieve a single podium in his first year at Ferrari, finishing sixth in the World Championship and achieving the less than welcome record of three consecutive eliminations in Q1 at the end of the championship. Regardless of mere contractual issues – which obviously will still have an important weight in the sporting destiny of #44 – Hamilton will be called upon to prove wrong on the track those who now consider him a driver no longer capable of obtaining high-level results. The upheaval of the technical regulations could help him, if only because it is clear that Hamilton has never fully digested the type of single-seater introduced in 2022, obtaining his three worst placings ever in the championship with the rules that have now been retired. The precedents are against Lewis. On the other hand, however, there is a demographic issue that could start to make itself felt. The statistics of the past are not the Gospel, but they trace a clear path: in the history of F1, in fact, only seven drivers have been able to win a GP after the age of 41 and the last was Nigel Mansell in the 1994 Australian GP. A geological era ago, speaking of Formula 1. More recently only Fernando Alonso in 2023 and Michael Schumacher in 2012 stood on the podium after their 41st birthday (the Spaniard had 42 years old, the German 43). Resurrection or surrender, this seems to be the crossroads at which the most successful driver in the history of F1 faces this year. Returning to competition and giving Ferrari and its fans a leading season – regardless of the possible conquest of what would be a historic eighth world title – or raising the white flag and thinking of considering his adventure in the Circus now over: for Hamilton the moment of a definitive answer to this dilemma is getting ever closer.