Sergio Perez talked up his Formula 1 championship chances following his win at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
The Mexican inherited the lead from teammate Max Verstappen thanks to an early Safety Car, but fully deserved the victory with a brilliant drive to control the race until the chequered flag at the Baku City Circuit.
The result made Perez the first two-time winner in Azerbaijan and closed the gap between himself and Verstappen to just six points in the Drivers' Championship having both claimed two wins apiece.
And with Red Bull seemingly in a class of its own, Checo is feeling ready to go head-to-head with the Dutchman.
“Having three kids at home I wouldn’t be travelling around the world if I didn’t believe I could be a World Champion," Perez declared after his latest win.
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"I’m working towards that, there’s so much you can talk about outside the car, it’s important to deliver on the track.
“I think with all the issues we had in qualifying in Melbourne we should be leading the Championship, definitely there is everything to believe we can do well this year.
"But I also know that it's a massive road ahead, so I need to keep my head down and just keep delivering."
After Sunday's race, Red Bull boss Christian Horner was asked if Perez and Verstappen will be allowed to battle each other for the championship.
“Well, at the moment it’s the two of them," he said via Motorsport.com. “There’s a slight gap to the rest of the field, but there’s 19 more races to go and five sprint races.
“So there’s a huge amount of racing and a whole variance of different circuits to go through, so it could ebb and flow between the two of them.
“There’s six points between them after four races so they’re both competitive drivers. They both want to win, which is why they’re employed by the team and I think that it’s down to what they do on the track.
“They were free to race today and, all year so far, they’ve been free."
If Perez is to challenge Verstappen though, Horner believes the Mexican has to start replicating his street circuit form on more normal tracks.
“Checo is definitely living up to his nickname of King of the Streets or whatever his latest docuseries is going to be called,” he smiled. “An incredible weekend by him.
“He just needs to do it on a normal track. He’s excelled at street circuits – all his victories, certainly for us, have been at street tracks.
"It’s the second time he’s won here, he won in Singapore, he won in Monaco, won in Jeddah, so just need to get going on the proper circuits.”
