Mick Schumacher upbeat despite starting Azerbaijan GP dead last as 'my dad could do it'

Mick Schumacher has backed himself to break his Formula 1 points duck at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix despite starting from dead last.

Qualifying was a disaster for the German, who simply could not find the pace in his car to lift himself off the bottom of the timing sheets. So he will start the race in Baku from the very back of the grid, while Haas team-mate Kevin Magnussen didn't fare much better and will line up 16th.

"I'm annoyed because of course the whole situation is a bit stupid," he told Sky Germany as he reflected on another poor qualifying result which makes his chances of scoring F1 points for the first time even more tricky than usual. "The car is better than last place.

"The qualifying speaks for itself in this case, it was quite disappointing. We knew that it would be close to get into Q2, but actually we would have had the pace to be a little further ahead."

But despite that disappointment, he still believes he is capable of producing something special in the race to make up for it. Mick believes he can follow in the footsteps of his seven-time world champion father Michael Schumacher to get a result out of nowhere.

"Baku is chaotic," he declared. "Baku is a street circuit and accordingly action-packed. That's why we can still get into the points from last place. It's not that far-fetched because I think an average six cars don't see the chequered flag here.

Michael Schumacher was capable of scoring points and winning races from nowhere (PA)

"If that's the case again, I've only have four more to overtake, and my dad has been able to start from the back and go to the front before, so there's no reason why I can't do it too."

That optimistic outlook was later doubted by his own uncle, as Ralf Schumacher questioned if it was possible in a Haas car which has not looked very competitive this weekend. "Yes, his father could drive forward... sure, but his father also had a different car," said the German – also a former F1 driver.

"I see it a bit differently than Mick. There's a bit missing at the moment. You can of course rely on other drivers retiring, but that's not in your hands. That's why it's a points run only possible with a lot of luck."