Sergio Perez feels Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen deserves to win F1 championship

Red Bull's Sergio Perez said on Thursday (September 29) the team will try for a one-two finish at the Singapore Grand Prix this weekend, while teammate Max Verstappen deserves to win the championship this year.

The Mexican driver is currently third on the leader board, behind Verstappen and Ferrari rival Charles Leclerc. "I expect Ferrari to be relatively strong so it won't be so easy, but we will try our best," Perez told Reuters on the sidelinea of an ExxonMobil event, where he also took part in a radio-controlled car race against school children.

Verstappen has a shot at securing his second Formula One title. He has won 11 of 16 races, finished off the podium just once and heads into Singapore, a race he is yet to win and where Red Bull have not triumphed since 2013, on a streak of five successive victories.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

ALSO READ |FIA gives nod to three more sprint sessions in Formula One from 2023

“In the beginning of the year we were fighting for the championship. Then Max (Verstappen) has had a pretty good run of races and he disappeared a bit and now it looks like it's just a matter of time before he becomes champion, which he fully deserves to be,” said Perez. He added that he has grown more comfortable with the car and Red Bull could finish the season “on a high”.

The Singapore night race circuit is coming back on the F1 calendar this year after being absent for two seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The race, staged in the heart of the city against a backdrop of glittering skyscrapers, has established itself as one of the sport's most glamorous and popular. A crowd of about 268,000 attended over the whole weekend in 2019 and organizers are expecting a sell-out this year.