Daniil Kvyat believes the deployment of the safety car on lap 52 ruined his chances of finishing on the podium.
Kvyat was running third before the safety car was deployed due to Sebastian Vettel’s crash at turn seven. The Russian maintained third when everyone pitted under the safety car but was overtaken by the Williams of Valtteri Bottas shortly after the safety car went in.
Williams looked set to be on a two-stop strategy with both of their drivers while Kvyat was on a one-stop thus was certain to finish in third.
“I think so,” Kvyat said. “I don’t know how Bottas was going on his prime tyres, but I was controlling him before the safety car quite easily. It’s a shame, but this is life.”
He added: “We had no pace on the straight whatsoever. Williams went full banana and they could pass us quite easily.
“I was very gutted, but it’s still a very solid race for us as a team. Very solid points. We could have been on the podium today, we deserved it, but we can’t complain.”
Comments.
Loading comments…