Red Bull had a bad 2021 Russian GP qualifying at Sochi. Sergio Pérez and Max Verstappen are facing a tough battle back towards the front of the pack in tomorrow’s Russian Grand Prix after a tricky qualifying session in unpredictable wet/dry conditions at Sochi Autodrom that saw Checo qualify in P9, while Max will start from the back of the grid following his engine change.
Sergio was quick in Q1 and was fastest overall before a spin on his final lap saw him drop to third. In Q3, couldn’t find the required improvement and as rivals found more time the Mexican slid to ninth place. He will start on row five alongside Alpine’s Esteban Ocon. Timing the change was crucial as the drivers who put on slicks earlier were able to improve at the end of the session.
Max went out on track in Q1 knowing that he will start the race from the back of the grid. Red Bull therefore elected to meet the minimum requirement of exiting the pit lane to take part in Q1 and after two laps, and no time posted, the Dutch driver headed back to the garage to sit out the rest of the session.
Max Verstappen (P20)
“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!”
Sergio Perez (P9)
“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.”
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 9th position, a small mistake on his warmup 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.”
