Max Verstappen was pleased to see the chequered flag after completing his moves early at the Russian Grand Prix.

The Dutchman had a tricky fight from ninth to fifth following a five-place grid penalty and would inherit fourth place following Sebastian Vettel's retirement.

Once the job of passing the midfield runners was done though, Max didn't have the pace to challenge the leading trio.

“It was pretty boring but that was the best we could do,” Verstappen said via Crash.net.

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The disappointing pace isn't too surprising for Red Bull, with the 21-year-old's P4 actually their best-ever finish in Sochi.

But it came after Max had been the fastest man on Friday.

“They [Ferrari] turned the engines up more than us," he said explaining the drop.

“I think maybe they were not happy with their car balances. I was straightaway happy with mine.

“Anyway, this track is not suitable for us. I guess it was just a really good Friday where we straightaway nailed the setup, and for them, it took a while to settle in."

Teammate Alex Albon faced a tougher task having started from the pitlane, but the Thai driver, with a little help from the Safety Cars, made his way upto a strong P5.

“I’m happy after a tough Saturday,” he reflected. “I think that was really the best we could have done.

"[I was] a little bit fortunate with the Safety Car and everything like that, but still, the pace was there, so I’m happy.

“I think coming from that Saturday, it was good for the team and everyone to do a good job.”

This was the second recovery Albon has done from the back since joining Red Bull, after finishing fifth from 19th at Spa, but he revealed why Sochi's was much tougher.

“I think this track, the way it’s designed, when you’re following in a train it really feels a lot worse than other tracks because it’s almost like a tunnel system,” he explained.

“The air is stuck in one place, a little bit like a street track. The downforce loss was immense when you’re following.

“It just meant I couldn’t do those overtakes like I was used to at Spa and Monza, and outbrake people.

“Once you’re just one driver by themselves that you could attack, it wasn’t a problem.”