Johnny Herbert: Sergio Perez is a championship challenger this year

Former Formula 1 driver Johnny Herbert has said that he feels Sergio Perez is a championship challenger after the Mexican’s win in Monaco.

The Red Bull driver has had quite a couple of weeks with him winning the most iconic Grand Prix race of all before extending his stay with the team until the end of the 2024 campaign.

Indeed, he’s on cloud 9 at the moment and has said himself he feels as though he is driving better than ever, which usually makes for even stronger performances out on the track.

This weekend, Formula 1 is in Azerbaijan for the latest race around the streets of Baku and the Mexican has a decent record at the circuit, with him winning last year and also appearing on the podium prior to that.

Clearly, it’s a track he likes and, with that and the form he is in at the moment, you might well expect him to go well again this weekend.

That all said, then, the question has to be is he a genuine title challenger this season, with him just 15 points off of leader Max Verstappen in the standings right now.

For Johnny Herbert speaking to Sky Sports, he is:

“Sergio is one of those drivers, when we look at his past history, that does take his time to get up to speed but I think he’s gone into Red Bull feeling settled after some really good years at Force India and that has made him a stronger driver when going up against Max Verstappen.

“He has put himself in a brilliant position. What a brilliant, mentally strong race he put in in Monaco. He’s put himself in a really, really strong situation [after] the team decided in Barcelona to favour Max and he did a bounce back from that so I think he’s put himself right into the mix.”