Horner explains missing Verstappen: "Reward wasn’t worth the risk"

Max Verstappen's appearance in qualifying for the Russian Grand Prix was brief. The World Championship leader is serving a penalty this weekend for adding a fourth engine to his car in 2021, and he would've started from the back of the grid regardless of the outcome in qualifying. 

With heavy rain in the morning, the track presented difficult conditions for the drivers. In fact, we saw multiple spins and incidents, including contact with the pit wall from the seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton. Red Bull team boss Christian Horner explains Verstappen's brief appearance where he explains the risk wasn't worth the reward. 

“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," Horner explained in Red Bull's press release.

Sergio Perez

With Mercedes making mistakes on the circuit, it opened up a chance for other drivers to get some good grid positions. Lando Norris, Carlos Sainz and George Russell took advantage of this as they all reached the top three positions with good strategic choices. However, Perez struggled. 

"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 a dry weather forecast for tomorrow on a track where you can overtake, we could see even more overtaking and a very interesting race," Horner added.