'No reason why Perez can't go for the title this year'

Perez has had a strong start to the season. With two Grand Prix wins and one in a sprint race to his name, the Mexican is now just six points behind his Dutch teammate. Logically then, the question arises: can Perez challenge Verstappen for the title this year?

"Of course, the answer to that is: yes," analyses Palmer. "Red Bull have such a car advantage that even at this early stage it’s a long shot to see how anybody else can mount a challenge. They’d need a serious turnaround in form and Red Bull to run into plenty of trouble. On current form, with Perez matching Verstappen for pace through three of the four Grands Prix so far (with the other one being tough to compare because he was mired in traffic in Melbourne after car problems), there’s no reason to think he can’t continue in this vein."

Not the first time Perez has been seen as a title contender

Palmer does point out that this is not the first time Verstappen and Perez have been close in terms of points. " It’s worth remembering that this time last year the same questions were being asked, after Checo’s Monaco victory," the analyst stresses. "Yet he ended up being left behind as the year went on, in a very similar way that Valtteri Bottas used to in his Mercedes days. The longer the season, the better the chance for the strongest drivers to come out on top, as we’ve seen with Lewis Hamilton and Verstappen in recent years. On his day Perez has now proven that he can match or even beat Verstappen in a straight fight, but can he do it consistently enough over the season? Baku shows that it’s very much all to play for."