Max Verstappen was feeling bemused over exactly why his qualifying pace got slower as Saturday's session went on.

The Red Bull driver had finished Q1 in fifth place, but then dropped to sixth in the second round. And in in the pole shoot-out he went backwards again ,and will start Sunday's Russian Grand Prix from seventh on the grid.

"It was actually very poor from after Q2," Verstappen admitted afterwards, adding that it had been a frustrating day for him all round.

"I was already complaining in Q2 the last sector was just losing a lot of grip under braking into turn 13," he explained. "I had a really bad feeling with the rear tyres, losing the rear basically

"Then you overheat the tyres too much and everything just gets worse and worse," he continued. "Sector 1 and 2 went well on most of my laps but the time just fell away in sector 3.

"With the two sets in Q3 it just got worse and worse again.

"Normally with less fuel in the car in Q3 you should do better. But I went slower, so that is not the way to go. That results in seventh spot on the grid.

"We knew this would be one of our toughest tracks of the season but I had hoped qualifying would go better than that," he continued.

"P5 was our target and that looked possible based on my first sector splits. But the time I lost in the final sector cost me that goal.

"Tomorrow should be a one stop race and we will of course try to push and go forward. But I just think the top four are too quick here. The target will remain P5 in the race tomorrow, which would be a good result for us here.”

Verstappen will start one row behind his team mate Daniel Ricciardo and Williams' Felipe Massa. The trio all live in the same Monaco apartment building, leading Ricciardo to suggest the idea of an 'intra-building' battle tomorrow.

"I've got the party rights, so they can join me," Verstappen said in response. "If I'm in front!"

GALLERY: All the pictures from Saturday in Sochi

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

Recent Posts

Marko: ‘No chance at all’ for Red Bull in Las Vegas

Helmut Marko believes that Red Bull and Max Verstappen are unlikely to challenge for victory…

6 hours ago

GM revives bid to join F1 with accelerated talks for 2026 entry

Automotive giant General Motors is reportedly back in the game as a potential entrant in…

7 hours ago

Las Vegas GP: Thursday's action in pictures

The opening day of running at the Las Vegas GP was a smooth but chilly…

9 hours ago

Williams' headaches persist into Vegas practice

Williams is continuing to fight uphill battles this weekend in Las Vegas as a knock-on…

10 hours ago

Ferrari's Sainz 'not satisfied with where we are' in Vegas

It was a solid start to the Las Vegas weekend for Ferrari with Carlos Sainz…

11 hours ago

Norris labels McLaren long-run pace ‘shocking’ in chilly Vegas

Lando Norris didn’t hold back in his assessment of McLaren’s performance on the opening day…

12 hours ago