Helmut Marko, Red Bull’s senior adviser, has praised Max Verstappen for his “magic lap” in the third quarter of qualifying on Saturday that saw him move up to second place. The Dutchman will start from the front row at the Mexico City Grand Prix on Friday after a series of challenging free practice runs.

The Red Bull driver started the race weekend in Mexico with engine problems on his RB20 F1 car. The challenges became apparent in the first training session when Verstappen reported a problematic noise from the Honda engine. Although the team worked to diagnose and resolve the issue after the first FP, the problem persisted. The situation worsened during FP2, where Verstappen’s time on track was significantly limited.

In response, Red Bull decided to replace Verstappen’s engine before the Mexican Grand Prix. Luckily for its championship lead, with Lando Norris only 57 points behind, the team used an engine that was already within its season allocation, so he received no grid penalties for the upcoming race.

On his first lap in the third quarter, his time was canceled for exceeding track limits, leaving him with just one lap left to overtake Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz. Despite setting a time of 1:16.171, he was unable to match Sainz’s incredibly “smooth” 1:15.946. Speaking to Sky F1 DE, as reported by Racingnews365, Marko noted that Verstappen remained determined to secure a front row spot despite his first lap being scrapped. He said:

“No, we lost three to four tenths in the third sector and we had to get that under control.”

“Then it would look good, and that’s how it turned out. And of course it was another magical lap from Max. After his lap was canceled, he kept his nerves under control and drove a perfect lap.”

The 81-year-old consultant also praised Red Bull’s engineers’ quick tuning of the RB20, noting that the warm temperatures in Mexico appeared to benefit the car’s performance. He added:

“We have to give a lot of credit to the engineers.

“They found the right direction for a car working in a tight window.

“I would also say that the higher temperatures, almost 13 degrees (warmer), helped us.”

While Red Bull’s resilience shines through as it approaches every challenge with determination, the same cannot be said of Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez. He qualified a disappointing 18th at his home race, citing significant braking and tire management issues similar to those he struggled with at the Austin circuit last weekend.