After its stellar performance at the Mexican GP, Red Bull is back to its regular position on the grid, taking P5 and P6 at the Brazilian GP.

Max Verstappen was unhappy to be back at square one, after having won the previous race, but admitted the team expected this to happen at Interlagos.

The Dutchman will start from fifth place, which is not a bad position. But the big gap in pace between the top four and Verstappen’s Q3 time is telling of its deficiency.

“It was not the best balance I’ve had in a qualifying session this year,” he lamented. “But it wouldn’t have changed [anything].

“I think [there was more] in the car, yes.”

“I think we would have been closer to Kimi [Raikkonen],” he said. “But it is like it is.

“Hopefully, the set-up today will be better for tomorrow when it’s going to be a bit warmer,” he offered. “With the understeer I have it should be a bit better for the race I think.”

Verstappen said he is not wishing for rain to interrupt the race on Sunday in the hopes of levelling the playing field.

When asked if he will perform a rain dance, Verstappen said: “No, I have other priorities than dancing!”

Verstappen’s teammate Daniel Ricciardo finished at sixth place, being only 0.002s slower than his teammate. But, due to a Turbo change, he will serve a five-place penalty.

Speaking of his performance, Ricciardo said: “In the end, the pace wasn’t that bad, it seemed, on the low fuel stuff. I think we’ll be pretty decent tomorrow.

“Obviously with our penalty, we’ll start from 11th. It was close – I think Max got me two thousandths or something, a similar margin to last week which was annoying.”

Last time, a similar gap got Ricciardo pole position and Verstappen was left furious. But in Brazil, it doesn’t make such a difference since they are not at the front of the grid.

“You saw his face last week, but fortunately this isn’t for pole so it’s a little more tolerable.

“To be honest, it was alright, it was fairly solid. We’ve just got a bit of work to do from 11th tomorrow, but I think we’ll have a decent car.”

Recalling his success last year, Ricciardo hopes to once again pull off a few of his classic overtakes at the Autodromo José Carlos Pace.

“Watch last year’s race, there’s a few highlight reels there!” he said. “I remember it.

“Just send a few [moves] tomorrow and hopefully get to the front quickly and try and get in that battle with the top five.”