What exactly has happened to Daniil Kvyat?
After Daniel Ricciardo replaced the retiring Mark Webber at Red Bull in 2014, Kvyat – the then reigning GP3 champion – was announced as the younger Aussie’s replacement at Toro Rosso – alongside Jean-Eric Vergne.
On his debut in Australia, Kvyat became the then youngest points scorer in Formula One at 19 years old after finishing ninth. He impressed throughout the rest of the season, with his pace and aggressive driving style bringing him three points finishes in the first four races.
Despite suffering four retirements in five races during the middle of the season, Kvyat impressed alongside the more experienced Vergne. Although he only scored eight points to the Frenchman’s 22, the Russian was only two places behind his teammate in the drivers’ championship at the end of the season. Due to this, Kvyat was chosen to succeed Sebastian Vettel at Red Bull in 2015 – effectively ending Vergne’s Formula One career.
Following a short settling in period at the big team, it looked as though Kvyat was going to step up to the mark.
In 19 races, he finished in the points 14 times and suffered only three retirements. He secured his first podium at the Hungarian Grand Prix that year – finishing ahead of his teammate Daniel Ricciardo – and was on course for a third place finish in Austin until a slippery kerb caught him out. Kvyat actually finished ahead of Ricciardo in last year’s world championship – finishing three points and one place ahead of the Australian in a very respectable seventh.
Surely, then, 2016 would be a chance to improve even further?
Well, after the now 22-year-old scored his second podium at the Chinese Grand Prix, it certainly seemed that way. Then, the calendar turned to May and oh, deary me!
At his home race, Kvyat slammed into the back of Sebastian Vettel twice in three corners on the opening lap – leaving the Ferrari in the wall and the Russian with a very damaged car. Four-time world champion – and former Red Bull driver – Vettel was not at all impressed with the Russian and neither, it appears, were the Red Bull management.
In the two week gap between Russia and Spain, murmurings emerged on social media that young star Max Verstappen would take Kvyat’s seat at Red Bull – with the latter returning to Toro Rosso. Sure enough, the rumours were true. Daniil Kvyat was given one of the most public humiliations in the history of the sport. The fact that Verstappen went on to win that same race rubbed salt into the gashing wound.
Since the Verstappen-Kvyat swap took place, Kvyat has scored just two points whilst his new teammate Carlos Sainz has taken 26. Verstappen has also taken four podiums in eight races for Red Bull – twice as many as the Russian managed in 22.
As we head into the summer break, that leaves both Kvyat and Red Bull’s management in a bit of a dilemma.
Before the British Grand Prix, it seemed somewhat certain that Kvyat would stay at Toro Rosso – purely because there weren’t really any good enough alternatives inside the Red Bull Young Driver programme. However, Pierre Gasly – the next in line for Toro Rosso – ended his three-year win drought in the GP2 feature race at Silverstone, following that up with a second victory in the Hungarian feature race. He is now the joint leader of the GP2 championship.
If the Frenchman wins the GP2 championship, Kvyat will instantly lose his seat to Gasly – but could a swap happens earlier?
In 2009, Toro Rosso dropped Sebastian Bourdais in favour of the then-youngest ever Formula One driver Jaime Alguersuari half way through the season after Bourdais consistently under-performed. Now would be as good a time as any to carry out another ruthless swap as Gasly would have all of the summer break to prepare for Spa.
We all hope, though, that Kvyat completes the season. He has four weeks to clear his head and then rediscover his form from 2014 and 2015, but it might well be worth his management looking at alternative seats away from the Red Bull teams.
