Max Verstappen says "nothing is lost" despite his three-grid place penalty for the Russian Grand Prix, after being deemed predominantly at fault for his incident with Lewis Hamilton at Monza. The title protagonists collided in Italy and both retired when Verstappen's Red Bull pitched itself onto Hamilton's Mercedes as they came to a halt in the gravel trap. It meant Verstappen retained his lead of five points in the Drivers' Championship, but will start no higher than fourth place at this weekend's race in Sochi. "I think you can reflect all you like but it's important to look forward and keep pushing," said Verstappen. "I still believe it was a racing incident, but we have been given a three-place grid penalty and we just have to work with it now. "The race in Monza definitely wasn't our day for many reasons, but now I just plan to look forward to Sochi. The penalty is of course not ideal but nothing is lost, that's how I look at it. "As for the Drivers' Championship, we still have a lot of races ahead of us and it's a very tiny margin. We will try and make the most from the weekend and work with the package we have." Mercedes are unbeaten at the Sochi Autodrom since the Russian GP joined the F1 calendar in 2014 and have also taken every pole position. Championship leader Verstappen finished on the podium for the first time in Sochi last year and expects an intriguing weekend due to the smooth surface and unique track layout which is largely made up of 90-degree corners. "It was great to finish second there last year in Sochi especially as it has never been a good track for us as a team," added Verstappen. "We have been more competitive this year and we have a better package at the moment so it will be interesting to see how competitive we can be there this year. "It will be of course completely different to Monza and it looks like there might be some rain this weekend. "The track itself and the layout is completely different to the previous races so I'm definitely looking forward to going back there and seeing what we can do."
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