Following Saturday’s qualifying races, Red Bull Racing Honda driver Max Verstappen will start Sunday’s Russian Grand Prix from the back of the grid.
Following an accident with Lewis Hamilton at Monza a fortnight ago, the Dutchman received a three-grid penalty, and the Team decided to use that disadvantage as an opportunity to change the power unit of his car, which sent him to the back of the grid. With little to gain, Verstappen did not complete qualifying.
Verstappen’s team-mate, Sergio Pérez from Mexico, will start tomorrow’s race, which is being held at the Sochi circuit, in P9.
France’s Pierre Gasly, driving for Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda, finished 12th in qualifying after 18 laps. His team-mate, Japan’s Yuki Tsunoda, came in 13th after 20 laps.
Red Bull Racing Honda
SERGIO PÉREZ – 9th
“Things were looking really promising and we had a strong Q1 and Q2. But in the changing weather and track conditions, timing is important and in hindsight we probably could have tried slick tyres one lap earlier. As we know anything can happen in the race and a positive to take from today is that the car was performing very well in the wet. We are going to move positively into Sunday and the main target will be to get a strong start and then put together the best possible race.”
MAX VERSTAPPEN – 20th
“We decided not to do too many laps in qualifying as the risk of having a moment or an accident would not be worth it, especially as I’m starting from the back of the grid tomorrow. The track conditions were fine and there was good grip, I think it will be similar conditions during the race. The Team did a great job and I’m confident that we made a good decision about how we set up the car. Looking ahead to tomorrow, it’s always tricky as naturally the midfield will be a bit closer but it will be important to go out there and score as many points as possible, we’ll do our very best. Hopefully we can have a fun race!”
CHRISTIAN HORNER – Team Principal
“Obviously we knew Max was going to be starting from the back of the grid and with today’s tricky qualifying conditions, the reward wasn’t worth the risk. So it was just about making sure everything was ready for him tomorrow. Checo will be disappointed to be starting from ninth position, a small mistake on his warm-up lap on the slicks in Q3 meant he struggled to generate heat in the tyres and unfortunately missed out on being further up the field. The grid isn’t one anyone would have predicted coming into this weekend, and with dry weather forecast for tomorrow on a track where you can overtake, we could see even more overtaking and a very interesting race.”
Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda
PIERRE GASLY – 12th
“I don’t have too much to say right now. I think we had the pace to easily make it through to Q3, so I’m obviously frustrated. In Q1 I was really fast in these conditions. I felt comfortable in the car and could push straight away. However, for Q2 I stayed out on just one set of tyres, that were completely used by the end of the session. I think this was a big mistake from our side, but I will have to speak to the Team to understand more about what happened today. It’s a missed opportunity not making it through to Q3, but we now need to look forward to tomorrow and see what we can do to make up lost ground.”
YUKI TSUNODA – 13th
“I’m fairly pleased with today. I made it through to Q2, which is a step up for me, particularly after yesterday. My mechanics worked hard last night to get the car in a better position coming into Qualifying today and I felt a bit more confident in the car. Obviously, the conditions were completely different to yesterday’s sessions, but we’ll hopefully see more improvements tomorrow, in dry conditions.”
CLAUDIO BALESTRI – Chief Engineer, Vehicle Performance
“We knew today was going to be a rainy day, so we tried to prepare in the best possible way. The morning session was cancelled, which was not ideal, so our first time out in wet conditions was for Qualifying. In Q1 we decided to go out on the Inters and stay out for the whole session with just one set. It was the right strategy, used by most of the teams, and we made it through to Q2 with both cars. In Q2 the track was drying quickly, and the tyres suffered a bit more than the first Quali session, so we decided to pit Yuki to fit a new set of Inters. With Pierre we decided to stay out; unfortunately it didn’t pay off, and he couldn’t make it to Q3. We cannot be satisfied as there was a good opportunity today to start from a good grid position, especially with Pierre. We can’t change today’s result, so we need to simply focus our attention on the race and move forward as much as we can.”