Red Bull's Perez says he's still in contention for F1 title

Red Bull driver Sergio Perez feels that he is still in with a chance of winning the Formula 1 Championship despite slipping back in the Drivers' standings at the halfway stage of the season.

Perez's teammate Max Verstappen is 57 points above the Mexican, currently leading the standings.

In May, when Perez won at Monaco he was only 15 points behind his teammate but now following two DNF in Canada and Austria he has dropped to third in the standing - 19 points behind second-placed Charles Leclerc's Ferrari.

Heading to this weekend's racing in France the feeling is that for Perez to keep in championship contention he needs to pick up as many points as he can in Sunday's race.

"After a tough weekend in Austria, it's great to be back racing and have a chance to put things right," Perez said.

"We have had two DNFs in the past three races and we can't afford that in the Championships so I'm aiming to change that this weekend in France.

"I'm still in contention for the Drivers' Championship, so personally it is also important not to lose any more points."

Speaking about his chances in France, Perez said: "Last year I scored my second podium with the team in France and I am very looking forward to trying to repeat that," Perez added.

"Paul Ricard is a challenging track because there are different racing lines you can take through the corners and it's not easy to know which is the best one to use.

"The high temperatures will also be a factor to consider this weekend, physically it looks like it will be a very demanding race and we will have to see how it goes with the tyre degradation because of the heat."

Verstappen agrees with his teammate that tyre management will be the difference to winning and losing in France.

"The track has a lot of