On a track which historically doesn't cater to Red Bull Racing's strengths, Daniel Ricciardo knew from the outset that his Russian GP would be about damage limitation.
Alas, the Aussie wasn't even awarded an opportunity to fight for that goal following a rear brake issue which sidelined his RB13 early on.
"The start felt pretty good initially, I seemed to get away quicker than the guys in front which backed me up and meant I lost momentum.
"I was then a bit of a sitting duck on the outside line losing track position but it looked like it would be a good battle from there.
"After the safety car I looked in my mirror to see where the Force India was and I noticed that the right rear brake was on fire, I reported it to the team and they told me to bring the car back to the pits slowly."
The incident proved to be terminal unfortunately, cutting short Ricciardo's day at the races.
"Unfortunately the issue could not be fixed and I had to retire from the race. It was early in the race so I don’t know how much the safety car and two starts impacted us but the team will obviously investigate that.
With an important aero upgrade scheduled for introduction at next month's Spanish Grand Prix, the Honey Badger is keeping his hopes up for better times ahead.
"It’s frustrating, on a Sunday you just build up for the race and try to store up your adrenaline to use at 3pm but today it was over very quickly and unfortunately I didn’t get as much of a fight as I would have liked.
"We don’t know how much the new package will give us until we get it on track in a few weeks but we are hoping Barcelona is the first step to getting closer to the leaders."
Gallery: All the action from Sunday in Sochi
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