Verstappen: The wind picked up and hurt us

Despite this setback, much was anticipated of their package in Russia, but so far they have had no love with Verstappen ending the qualifying session fourth fastest but a full second down on pole winner Charles Leclerc.

Speaking to reporters after the session, the Dutchman said, “I always knew qualifying would be tricky on such a power-sensitive circuit but the lap was good and there wasn’t much more in it.

"The wind picked up and it seemed to hurt us in the last sector which is normally our strongest point so I couldn’t really use the full potential of the car.

“Yesterday looked positive but Ferrari didn’t have their engines turned up and they always open it up in qualifying as we could see today. The corners around here are mostly 90 degrees and very short, so you can’t gain a lot of lap time out of them but to be P4 and splitting the Mercedes is pretty good.

"With the penalty and starting ninth we need to make a clean start, stay alert and hope the people around us do the same. I think the realistic target is probably fifth but we will of course try to do better and it will be interesting to see what happens with Mercedes on a different strategy.”

It was far worse for rookie teammate Alex Albon whose quali ended early when he pranged in Q1 through the challenging left-eight Turn 12 and Turn 13 complex.

The Thai driver has not looked comfortable in all four sessions at the venue and admitted as much in his chat with reporters afterwards, “There’s nothing really to say other than I went in a bit hot like Max did in FP3 and I lost the rear.

"There’s a tailwind in that corner and it just caught me out. When these cars go, they go quick. It was a silly mistake – that’s pretty much it and it’s just frustrating.

“I haven’t really had the confidence during the weekend and I’ve struggled since FP1 but it was starting to come together and I was feeling more comfortable and getting into a rhythm coming into qualifying.

“We’re starting out of place but I’m optimistic as the car feels good in the long runs and you can also overtake here. We’ve seen before when starting at the back that we can progress through the field so we’ll give it everything tomorrow," added Albon.