Schumacher sees the ‘Michael gene’ in Verstappen – Max Verstappen narrowly missed out on his fifth consecutive Formula 1 World Championship title in 2025, falling just two points short after one of the most turbulent seasons in recent memory. Although the Red Bull driver failed to equal Michael Schumacher’s unique record of five consecutive titles with Ferrari, his standing in the sport remains largely unchanged.

According to former F1 driver and TV pundit Ralf Schumacher, Verstappen has now reached a stage in his career that mirrors the point at which his brother Michael became a true team leader.

 

 

A painful defeat that did little to dent Verstappen’s status

On paper, losing a title by two points is devastating. However, in context, Verstappen’s 2025 campaign arguably strengthened his reputation rather than weakened it. Midway through the season, Red Bull appeared incapable of consistently challenging McLaren, with Lando Norris building a lead of more than 100 points as the papaya-coloured cars dominated race after race.

Verstappen’s late-season comeback was therefore all the more remarkable. Through relentless driving, strategic excellence, and gradually improving competitiveness, the Dutchman dragged himself back into the title fight. The fact that the championship went down to the final race was, in the eyes of many observers, a minor miracle in itself.

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Schumacher: Red Bull reacted too late

Ralf Schumacher believes that the title would have been comfortably within Verstappen’s reach had Red Bull acted more decisively earlier in the year. Speaking as a Sky and Sport1 expert, the former Williams and Toyota F1 driver pointed to the prolonged internal turmoil surrounding team boss Christian Horner as a decisive factor.

“You could clearly see what happened at Red Bull,” Schumacher explained.

“Dr Marko himself addressed it: they decided too late to send Christian Horner home. This caused a long period of chaos until the car was back to a point where Max could win with it.”

According to Schumacher, valuable time was lost while Red Bull dealt with internal issues rather than focusing purely on performance. By the time stability returned and upgrades began to work, Verstappen was already facing a significant points deficit.

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A new Red Bull has been built around Verstappen

What followed Horner’s departure impressed Schumacher greatly, however. Under the guidance of Laurent Mekies and with a restructured technical and engineering leadership team, Red Bull began to function as a more cohesive unit. Crucially, Verstappen was placed even more firmly at the centre of that structure.

Schumacher highlighted Verstappen’s extraordinary ability to extract performance from difficult machinery.

“He’s a driver who can get an extreme amount out of a car,” he said.

However, he added that something else had changed in 2025. The improved team performance under Mekies, combined with Verstappen’s growing influence, elevated the four-time world champion beyond his already exceptional driving skills.

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The “Michael gene” comparison

Schumacher draws the comparison with his brother Michael here. During his dominant Ferrari years, Michael was not only the fastest driver on the grid, but also the team’s undisputed leader, capable of uniting engineers, mechanics, and strategists behind a single vision.

“He’s acquired that added-on quality, that ability and that aura that Michael also had,” explained Ralf Schumacher. “The ability to unite a team around him, to lead them and inspire them.”

According to Schumacher, it is this leadership quality that truly separates multiple champions from all-time greats. ‘It’s crucial that people would go through fire for you,’ he said. “Max now has that Michael gene too.”

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Defeat today, legacy tomorrow.

Although Verstappen missed out on a historic fifth consecutive title, Schumacher believes the bigger picture is clear. The Dutchman has matured into a complete Formula 1 figure: relentless on the track and decisive off it, he is also capable of shaping an entire organisation around him.

Titles may define seasons, but leadership defines legacies, and, in this respect, Verstappen’s trajectory is becoming increasingly similar to that of Michael Schumacher himself.

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NEXT ARTICLE – FIA plans to reduce the power of the manufacturers

There is grave concern at the FIA over how the all new 2026 Formula One power units will perform. In a desperate bid to prevent an epic failure in the racing spectacle, F1’s governing body convened an emergency meeting with the manufacturers in Bahrain to correct the ‘over optimistic’ power output from the hybrid side of the new engines.

Concerns were first raised by Christian Horner in 2023 that the all new specification of power units would create “Frankenstein monsters” due to an over reliance on electrical output. Almost two years later the FIA’s pow wow in Bahrain sought to address this issue.

The problem is that at a number of circuits where braking is limited and the straights are long, that the cars will be incapable of generating enough electrical charge to deliver the mandated 50% of power output.

 

Concerns electrical output overstated

This would result in cars ruing out of electrical charge towards the end of the straights, visibly slowing the cars as they approached the next turn. The spectacle could be disastrous for the fans and the series would descend into farce.

Yet any reduction in the amount of electrical output had to be agreed by all but one of the PU manufacturers and such agreement could not be found. The result was both the FIA and FOM issuing statements suggesting the current F1 power cycle could be truncated and a return to V*’s introduced before even 2030.

Foiled by their attempt to introduce what would be a mere software adjustment for all the teams, the FIA issued a dictate in August which outlined how they would prevent F1 becoming a farce or dominated by a single manufacturer who has aced the new PU regulations.

FIA director of day to day operations, Nicolas Tombazis revealed: “We’ve introduced a…READ MORE ON THIS STORY