'Boring race' leads to important points for Verstappen in Russia

FULL Russian Grand Prix Race Results HERE

Max Verstappen felt happy to come away from a "boring" Formula 1 race in Russia on Sunday with some "important points" after almost missing the start due to a water pump issue.

Verstappen qualified seventh on Saturday, but Red Bull was thrown into a late panic in the hour leading up to lights out after water began to leak from the RB13 car.

A quick fix allowed Verstappen to get to the grid on-time and take up his expected starting position, before a good start lifted the Dutchman to fifth place.

Verstappen then endured a quiet race that saw him finish adrift of both Lewis Hamilton in fourth and Felipe Massa in sixth to take P5 for Red Bull, scoring 10 points in the process.

"I just tried not to think about it," Verstappen said when asked about the issue. "I think the whole race went pretty smooth. The end of the race you start to turn things down on the car just to be safe.

"So yeah, pretty boring race for me, but of course important points."

2017 F1 Drivers' and Constructors' standings following the Russian Grand Prix (Round 4 of 20)

Verstappen was Red Bull's sole finisher in Russia after seeing team-mate Daniel Ricciardo retire with a brake failure early on, similar to his problem in Bahrain two weeks ago.

"Normally you can feel a bit if the pedal is going soft or whatever," Verstappen said. "I asked immediately the team if everything was alright on my car, and they said it was. It's pretty OK."

Verstappen's attention now turns to the Spanish Grand Prix in two weeks' time, with Red Bull promising an extensive update for its RB13 chassis in Barcelona.

"It's a good track to drive," Verstappen said. "Got some updates coming, hopefully we can close the gap a little bit and we are soon in the fight. For sure we have to work hard to allow that to happen."

Latest Tweets from Crash.net & GPF1rst