Felipe Massa believes Jaime Alguersuari is too young and inexperienced to make his Formula 1 debut at the Hungarian Grand Prix this weekend.
At 19 year and 125 days of age, Alguersuari will become the youngest driver ever to participate in a grand prix after taking over Sebastien Bourdais' seat at the Toro Rosso team. The Spaniard has only driven a Formula 1 car in straightline tests and arrives in Hungary having not completed a single lap in the STR4 machine.
Massa admitted he was surprised by Toro Rosso's decision to put him in the car, and the Brazilian reckons it is wrong for F1 and will not help Alguersuari as he is likely to struggle.
"For me, he's too young," Massa told reporters at Hungaroring. "When I came into Formula 1 I was just 20, and for me it was also quite young. I was too inexperienced to ask what I needed from the car, so I made some mistakes. For sure I had a very difficult car to drive, but anyway, it was not easy for me.
"But even for myself – and I can say it was too early for me – I did the whole winter (of testing), so I did many tests in Formula 1. He's never driven a Formula 1 car, or he has driven it in a straight line or whatever. It's wrong. It's not good for him. He can burn himself very quickly. Maybe he's an incredible talent and he will do much better than everybody thinks, but for me it's not good for him.
"I'm surprised a team would put a guy like this in the car. It's not right."