Surer gives Perez chance at world title: 'Verstappen has one more DNF'

Former F1 driver Marc Surer gives Sergio Perez a chance to become world champion this year. He does not consider the chance very high, but explains why the Mexican should be taken into account.

Sergio Perez won his second race for Red Bull Racing and his third race of his career in Monaco. Blunders at Ferrari allowed Perez to take maximum advantage and because he was too fast for his teammate Max Verstappen all weekend, the Mexican won the race. With the win, Perez is very close to Charles Leclerc in the standings. Suddenly Perez is competing for the leading position.

Surer thinks Perez is contender

The reigning world champion Verstappen is currently on top and has had to fight hard in recent races to pass his rival Leclerc. Surer thinks Verstappen has the better cards, but also thinks Perez should not be written off yet. In a video from Formel1.de the Swiss says: "If he [Perez] keeps doing this and scores points every time then that's perfect." Surer says Verstappen has already written two zero scores behind his name and Perez only one. Surer: "But if you look at the wins it's clear Max is still the number one driver within the team."

Surer explains why he includes the drivers' DNFs in his argument: "The other person scores well and that can make a big difference at the end of the year. At the end, it's the DNFs that create problems because you miss 25 or 18 points each time. So yes, Perez is a contender for the world title." With seven races completed and the Russia GP cancelled, we are about at one third of the calendar. Verstappen currently leads with 125 points, Leclerc follows with 116 points and Perez is on P3 just six points behind and has 110 points.