What lies in store for Formula 1's 'old' drivers?

Jenson Button may have driven for the last time in Formula 1

At 34, Jenson Button – the 2009 champion, is widely speculated to be bidding farewell to Formula 1 albeit in circumstances far from perfect and worthy of the Briton's credentials in the sport. Button's alleged departure and Verstappen's arrival is a stark reminder that F1 is not an old man's game. Many may argue that experience is the biggest asset that drivers have when it comes to battling wheel to wheel, but one can not deny that a proper balance has to be struck between age and youth.

Once Button bids adieu to F1, Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa will be the sport’s oldest racers. So let us look into the prospective career of these 3.

Kimi Raikkonen

Kimi made a comeback into the sport in 2012 amidst wide speculation that the Finn may be committing a mistake and that the iceman will struggle after spending 2 years away from the sport. But Kimi came back and boy what a return it was. He immediately silenced his critics and showed them that he knows what he is doing. But his return to Ferrari brought nothing but a dent to his reputation. So much so that during mid-season Raikkonen reacted to the criticisms and accepted the possibility of retiring at the end of 2015.

As the season progressed, so did his outlook and he hinted towards continuing into 2016 with Ferrari. Aged 35 he is a full 2 years older than the other two drivers and time is fast slipping out of his fingers. Looking at this year's performance and the possibility of miracle drives in 2015 looking bleak, the iceman's career may very well be coming to an end. If not in 2015 then by the end of 2016, at the very best.

Felipe Massa

At 33, Felipe is the third oldest driver in F1 right now. While the Brazilian is amazingly talented, his career never saw the same high he enjoyed prior to his 2009 accident. His departure from Ferrari in 2013 led many to speculate that his career was over. But Massa received a boon in the form of Williams who offered him a racing seat for this season and confirmed his seat for a second year.

When Williams signed Massa it was clear that the team did so as to provide an experienced team mate to the rising star Valteri Bottas. While Bottas went ahead to claim 6 podiums this season, Massa was left battling bad luck over the course of many races with his performance finally coming together in the last few races. He ended the season with a second placed finish in Abu Dhabi and a total of 3 podiums.

Being the only Brazilian driver on the grid, his presence was vital to Brazilian broadcaster Globo who pays a high fee for broadcasting rights. In order to get a worthwhile return on their investment in Formula One, Globo needs a Brazilian driver on whom to anchor their coverage. As the only Brazilian left in the sport, Massa’s position has been partly protected by Bernie Ecclestone's need to keep his high-paying broadcasters happy.

The arrival of Felipe Nasr has given Globo another focus for its coverage and Massa is no longer the protected entity he once was. What doesn’t help either is the fact that Nasr is a part of Williams’ young driver programme and hence his move to Sauber for 2015 could be seen as a move by the team to give the young driver a year or two worth of experience over the course of full season rather than playing out a reserve driver role before eventually replacing Massa.With age dawning on him and Anna (Felipe’s Wife) insisting too that it’s time for him to retire from the sport, Felipe could very well bid farewell to the sport either after 2016 or 2017.

Fernando Alonso

Alonso joined Ferrari in 2010 with the hopes that the sport’s best team may help him to expand his championship trophy cabinet; instead the Italian team failed to offer him a championship winning car. The Spaniard came close but not once, but, twice and after 5 frustrating years with the team, his age propelled him to embark on a gamble. Given his top form right now and his consistency, everyone in the F1 circus is speculating that Fernando his here to stay for another 4-5 years. But it all depends on how the new Honda engine fares.

If it fails to live up to expectations, Alonso’s career would be cut short to just 3 years as his motivation will take a deep dive following his gamble fiasco. But if the Honda engine turns out to be competitive, this could very well translate into interesting battles on the front end of the grid. Who knows he may get that third title after all. But with all that in mind, Alonso is 33 now and that means he will not remain in the sport for very long. And with that in mind I speculate 2018 will be the last year we will be seeing Fernando Alonso race.

While these top guns are progressing towards the end of their career, what the sport need is the teams to promote talented drivers from within the grid and mid-fielder teams to step-in into the positions of these drivers rather than bringing in rookie young faces.

At 34 Jenson Button the 2009 champion is widely speculated to be bidding the sports goodbye albeit in circumstances far from perfect and worthy of the Briton's credentials in the sport.

But button's alleged departure and Verstappen's arrival is a stark reminder that f1 is not an old man's game. Many may argue that experience is the biggest asset that drivers have when it comes to battling wheel to wheel but one can not deny that a proper balance has to be struck between age and youth.

After Button now Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa remains the sports oldest. So let us look into the prospective career of these 3.