After claiming two victꦉories from the first four races of the season, Perez sat within three points of Verstappen as he looked to mount a championship chaꦏllenge.

But six consecutive victories for Verstappen, coupled with a run of difficult weekends for Perez, has eff⛦ectively dashed the Mexican's hopes of winning a maiden world t♔itle this year.

Perez heads into this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix a whopping 99 points behind Vers🍰tappen.

He now has his sights firmly set on🐎 securing runner-up spot in the championship standings, which would mark his best-ever finish in F1.

"In Formula 1, only your position in Abu ෴Dhabi matters,” Perez told Spanish outlet AS.

“But I am not second in the World Championship by a miracle, I have won races. I’ve🅰 had some bad races, but we have everything🧸 ahead of us.

“Target now? Undoubtedly the runner-up in the championship. But I’m only thinking about the Hungarian G💙P.

”Given Red Bull’s current advantage over the field, Perez will be expected to hold onto secဣond place.But he faces competಞition from the chasing pack behind, with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso just 19 points adrift in third.

Meanwhile, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, who sits fourth, trailꦦs Perez by 35 points.