Two-time world champion Max Verstappen gave Red Bull reason to smile again on Saturday when he secured pole position for Sunday’s Mexico City Grand Prix with an authoritative late qualifying lap.

After 24 hours of arguments and derision following the announcement of Red Bull’s penalty for breaching Formula One’s $145 million cost cap last year, it was a sweet return to success with his sixth pole this year and the 17th of his career.

The 25-year-old Dutchman clocked a best lap of 1min 17.775sec to finish 0.304 seconds ahead of George Russell and his Mercedes’ team-mate, seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton.

Verstappen took control on his first run in Q3 and then trimmed his time to resist the threat from the much-improved Mercedes team. He will be hunting a record 14th win in a single season on Sunday.

His Red Bull team-mate and local hero Sergio Perez was fourth ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and a resurgent Valtteri Bottas of Alfa Romeo.

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