{"id":145954,"date":"2025-09-18T19:40:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T19:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/145954\/"},"modified":"2025-09-18T19:40:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T19:40:09","slug":"f1-legend-ralph-schumacher-predicts-max-verstappens-azerbaijan-grand-prix-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/145954\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 Legend Ralph Schumacher Predicts Max Verstappen’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix Weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix will take place this weekend as the season resumes after a two-week break.<\/p>\n

One driver will be especially desperate to win because despite experiencing vast success over the past few seasons, Max Verstappen has only won at Baku once in his career.<\/p>\n

But a driver of the past, who is a multiple-time race winner and a top competitor at the time, believes Verstappen will not be able to add to his victory tally this weekend.<\/p>\n

Ralf Schumacher says Verstappen’s teammates are ‘often stronger’ than him around Baku\"Schumacher,<\/p>\n

Schumacher, pictured here in 2007, raced for Williams, Toyota and Jordan in his decade-long career. | GEPA\/Imagn Images<\/p>\n

While speaking to Formel1.de<\/a> about this weekend’s race in Baku, Ralf Schumacher – who is the brother of seven-time champion Michael and a race winner with Williams – said:<\/p>\n

“Azerbaijan, I’m sorry to say, has never really been [Verstappen’s] circuit. Sergio Perez was often stronger than him there. I think it’ll be a difficult weekend for him.”<\/p>\n

Ralph Schumacher<\/p>\n

Verstappen won in the last Grand Prix, at Monza, but Schumacher does not believe a follow-up win will happen, but does have confidence in new Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies:<\/p>\n

“He’s a great talent, especially when it comes to bringing people together… He doesn’t think he’s that important – he just wants things to work.”<\/p>\n

Schumacher on Mekies<\/p>\n

Although he is almost 100 points off of the championship leader Oscar Piastri, Verstappen is 40 points ahead of fourth-placed George Russell and looks to be the only driver who can consistently fight with the two McLarens in the standings<\/a>.<\/p>\n

How has Verstappen performed this season?\"Verstappen<\/p>\n

Verstappen has been on the podium less than he might have wanted this season, and has regularly been beaten by the McLarens. | David Kirouac-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Max Verstappen has a total of 230 points in the 2025 season, and is currently sitting third in the World Championship.<\/p>\n

He has four wins over the course of the seasons, three on Sunday – Japan, Imola and Monza<\/a> – and one sprint race victory, at the Belgian Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

Even though Verstappen is still mathematically able to become champion, he has ruled himself out, saying after the British Grand Prix that he and the team are ‘not in the fight for any championships’.<\/p>\n

“\u201cWe have nothing to lose, nothing to gain \u2013 we are not in the fight for the championships, so we tried to just\u2026 see every race as a one-off and try to maximise everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Verstappen, after P5 at Silverstone<\/p>\n

More On The 2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix<\/p>\n

How To Watch: How To Watch The F1 2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix: Dates, Times, Schedule & More<\/a><\/p>\n

Odds & Prediction: F1 2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix Odds And Prediction<\/a><\/p>\n

Weather Forecast: F1 2025 Azerbaijan Grand Prix Weather Forecast In Baku<\/a><\/p>\n

Track Guide: F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix: Baku City Circuit Track Guide<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Azerbaijan Grand Prix will take place this weekend as the season resumes after a two-week break. One…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145955,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[1687,372,6537,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-145954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-f1","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}