SAO PAULO: Max Verstappen sealed pole position at the Brazilian Grand Prix on Saturday and served it up to a delighted Red Bull team principal Christian Horner as a 46th birthday present.

The pole was the second of the Dutch 22-year-old’s Formula One career and the first in Brazil for engine partners Honda since the late triple champion Ayrton Senna in 1991 with McLaren.

“The car was on fire and I hope that was a nice birthday present, Christian,” Verstappen said over the team radio after clocking a best lap around Interlagos of one minute 07.508 seconds.

“That was the best birthday present you could have given me. Well done. Brilliant in all three sessions. So thank you very much for that,” replied Horner.

Verstappen, who won the Austrian and German GPs this season, beat Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel by just 0.123 seconds.

Six-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes will start from third position. The 2018 winner at Interlagos finished 0.191 seconds back.

Vettel’s team-mate Charles Leclerc clocked the fourth fastest lap in qualifying, but will start from 14th because of an engine-change penalty.

Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas and Red Bull’s Alexander Albon finished fifth and sixth, but will move up one position because of Leclerc’s penalty.

Pierre Gasly was seventh for Toro Rosso ahead of Haas’s Romain Grosjean, Kimi Raikkonen of Alfa Romeo and Kevin Magnussen in the second Haas.

Published in Dawn, November 18th, 2019