Team Boss Christian Horner has hailed the young Red Bull rookie Daniil Kvyat, saying the Russian is “developing nicely” within the team.
Kvyat who spent his debut season with Toro Rosso in 2014, has struggled in the first half of this season after being promoted to a Red Bull seat following Sebastian Vettel’s decision to leave for Ferrari.
However, he has since enjoyed an upturn in form, recording a maiden podium at the Hungaroring, which puts him just six points behind team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.
And Horner is adamant that Kvyat’s struggles early on in the season weren’t “really all his fault”, saying: “He missed the first Grand Prix, [had] lots of reliability issues and failures.
“It could have got into his head a lot more than it did. It’s credit to him that he bounced back from it and got himself going,” he added.
“He is making more and more progress since Monaco, he deserved his first podium and I think he will draw confidence from that.”
Ricciardo is beating Kvyat in Qualifying with 6-4 so far this season, but has finished ahead of the Aussie in five of the races they contested together.
Ricciardo “at top of his game”
Ricciardo has also received praise from the team principal, who said the Australian would get an “A plus” for his performances in the first half of the season.
The Australian was just one step below his team-mate on the Hungary podium but was in contention for victory until late-race contact with Nico Rosberg.
“He is at the top of his game and some of his overtaking moves [at Hungary] were back to the best we have seen of him,” Horner said.
