Max Verstappen’s strategy from his penalised back-of-the-grid start in Sochi had to encompass many variables, far beyond just the usual tyre choice and pitstop timings.
The Sochi track gives good lap time reward for downforce, but the complication is that from the final corner, through the flat-out kink of Turn 1 and down to Turn 2 is one of the longest stretches of flat-out running the cars see all season.