Perez rules the streets but title tilt remains a long shot

LONDON : Sergio Perez was hailed as 'King of the Streets' after his double success in Baku but the Mexican will have to raise his game everywhere to be a real title threat to Red Bull team mate Max Verstappen.

Red Bull are also streets ahead of the rest in a private Formula One battle, with their drivers on two grand prix wins apiece after four of 23 rounds and no sign of anyone else getting close.

Double world champion Verstappen left Azerbaijan on Sunday six points clear at the top and nothing in his demeanour suggested he is remotely concerned about 33-year-old Perez's challenge.

The Mexican can claim to have won more races than Verstappen in 2023, when the Saturday sprint in Baku is included, but the score was 15-2 to his Dutch team mate last season.

Five of Perez's six career wins have been on street circuits, Baku the first time he had won twice at the same track, and he has yet to win more than two races in any season.

If Baku was an outlier, then the two Red Bulls are at least sufficiently evenly matched - at present - to provide some suspense amid the domination.

The rest are otherwise fighting for scraps from the Red Bull table, hoping upgrades and the pace of development will eventually close the gap.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who was third on Sunday after starting on pole position, finished 19 seconds behind second-placed Verstappen.

The Australian Grand Prix was a safety car finish but in Saudi Arabia Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was 20 seconds adrift of the Red Bulls in third place. In Bahrain that gap was 38 seconds.

"They are in another league once it comes to the race," observed Leclerc.

Verstappen was the victim of circumstances on Saturday and Sunday, contributing to the first in a sprint clash with George