Max Verstappen cruised to his 14th Grand Prix win of the season in Mexico to become the most successful driver ever in a single season.

The 25-year-old started from pole position and was never in trouble as he won at the Mexico City circuit for the fourth time in his career, finishing more than 15 seconds ahead of Lewis Hamilton.

‘It’s been an incredible year so far, we are definitely enjoying it and we’ll try to go for more,’ Verstappen said after the race.

The Dutchman still has two races left in which to add to his tally – Brazil on November 13 and Abu Dhabi on November 20. His win ratio is still lower than Michael Schumacher’s in 2004, when the German won 13 out of the 18 races on the calendar, while Sebastian Vettel won 13 out of 19 races in 2013.

In the meantime the championship has been expanded to 23 rounds, though this year’s Russian Grand Prix was cancelled because of the invasion of Ukraine.

Other drivers paid tribute to Verstappen’s dominance in a season when he clinched his second world title with four races to spare.

‘I think and hope he can put the counter on 16,’ said Vettel, who is retiring after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. ‘He’s driving fantastically: a “hell of a season”.

Mercedes’s second-string driver George Russell said the results reflected the dominance of both Verstappen and the Red Bull team. ‘Mercedes have been here as well: there was a time when Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg won almost every race.

‘If Lewis had had a less good team-mate at that time, he would probably have clocked up a lot more races than Max has now. But that takes nothing away from his performance: Max has been excellent and flawless all season.’

Verstappen’s former Red Bull team-mate, Daniel Ricciardo, said: ‘Some people don’t like this kind of dominance, but I think it’s phenomenal more than anything. I know Red Bull Racing very well, so I’m happy in my heart for all the mechanics and the rest of the crew.

‘They’ve won every race since the summer. That says it all.’