Sergio Perez seems to have given up on his hopes for the Formula 1 World Championship. During a Red Bull demo run in Madrid, he stated that his readjusted goals are to finish second in the championship.
It is apparent that he has reserved the top spot for his teammate Max Verstappen. RacingNews365 quoted him as saying:
"In Formula 1, only your position in Abu Dhabi counts, but I'm not second in the standings by miracle. I've won races. I've had a few bad races, but there are still plenty of opportunities for us.
"The goal now? Undoubtedly the number two in the world."
Sergio Perez shared a good title fight at the start of the season with his teammate Max Verstappen. With the sheer dominance the team had been putting on the grid, it was expected to be the only battle for the title this season. However, Perez started losing out to Verstappen soon after. The latter has now won six races in a row and is leading the championship comfortably.
Meanwhile, Checo has been facing troubles during qualifying, not making it to Q3 for multiple consistent races. Even though he made up quite a few positions in the races, he still is far from Verstappen in the standings. While the Dutchman leads the table with 255 points, Perez is far behind in second with 156 points in his kitty.
Sergio Perez looking forward to the Hungarian Grand Prix
As mentioned earlier, Sergio Perez hasn't been making it into Q3 during qualifying sessions, and it has happened five times in a row now, with the British Grand Prix, too, in the count. However, he made it clear that his complete focus is on the next race on the calendar, the Hungarian GP:
"For now I'm only thinking about the Hungarian Grand Prix."
Although Red Bull Racing (RBR) has mentioned that the team is backing up Sergio Perez, there could be a lot coming his way. RBR is known for replacing drivers for not performing adequately, something which happened last week with Nyck de Vries at AlphaTauri. That said, there could be a comeback from Perez in later races, as he has little over half a season to get himself back in form.