Helmut Marko says Daniil Kvyat will not return to F1 with Red Bull backing. Throughout the Austin weekend, Russian Kvyat called for a meeting with Red Bull's notorious driver manager to clarify his uncertain future.
Then this week, Toro Rosso announced that despite 23-year-old Kvyat's strong one-off return in the US grand prix, the Red Bull junior team would line up in Mexico this weekend with Pierre Gasly alongside Brendon Hartley.
Marko has now told Germany's Auto Bild that Red Bull will no longer support Kvyat in F1. "Kvyat will not return again," said the Austrian. "We do not believe he can make the turnaround in the long term."
Toro Rosso had only confirmed Gasly and Hartley for the Mexican grand prix, but Marko clarifies that the pairing will in fact remain in place for the final three races of 2017. "Gasly and Hartley will finish the season," he confirmed. "Then we'll see what happens." (GMM)
Replies (14)
Login to replyKean
Posts: 692
I bet Marko talked to Auto Bild about this before informing Kvyat.
Barron
Posts: 625
I think this whole episode sums up “Dr Death” exactly. Daniel has been treated very poorly with zero support from the team since his demotion. I hope he continues to do well in motorsport, but it’s a stretch to think another F1 team will sign him.
talktohenry
Posts: 362
Yes I don't think it's very nice telling media first, but it it's time for a change and he had his run and glad to see BH get a chance for the seat.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
It wouldnt surprise me in the least if he did that. Very much a Marko move.
mbmwe36
Posts: 533
I think Kvyat is quite underrated actually. No, he's probably not a future world champion, but that can be said for a lot of the drivers. I think he can definitely be a solid number 2 driver for a sub top team. The way he's been treated by Red Bull must've affected his performance, it had to.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Kvyat isnt a bad driver, but in the current F1 spots are tight, and few of the teams would want a driver Red Bull willingly ditched. I still think Vergne was a better pick for the main team seat, but I digress. In a sense, Kvyat's treatment was almost worse than the one Vergne got. To climb all the way up to RB, only to fall back to TR when the right time came, and to then get ditched in favour of smallfry that hasnt really performed very well in the other divisions... Marko might've outdone himself on this one. Thats almost Konami levels of horrible, and Konami is the worst.
Barron
Posts: 625
Are Konami that bad? ?
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Not that they had bad games, they had stuff like Metal Gear and Silent Hill... Until they didnt. Mostly pachinkos of said franchises now. The problem is how they treated these games and how they treat their workers. New workers doesnt get a PC or a mail adress from the get go, but have to run about the place in 2 weeks before they can do the work they need to do, harsh worker monitoring, random demotions, former employees arent allowed to reference their time at Konami, and Konami actively warn companies of their former employees. Konami also has strong enough ties with other big companies in Japan, enough so so that they have actively prevented former colleagues from getting health ensurances on several occasions, such as now when one of their more famous former partners, Hideo Kojima, left them to start his own studio, and his application for health ensurance got rejected. The list pretty much goes on.
talktohenry
Posts: 362
I think when CS came along, it ruined it for him as CS has blown him away and made him look slow......but MV was quicker than CS
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I dont really think the difference between the two was as great as some say. And we dont really know if there is a difference between the two now, since Sainz has been driving hands down inferior cars.
mbmwe36
Posts: 533
Sainz and Verstappen are in my opinion more or less equally talented. The difference is that Max was only 18, which got him a lot of attention as well as the fact that both he and Jos kept putting pressure on Red Bull.
kngrthr
Posts: 203
Kvyat was under the radar a bit this year.
all the attention was on Stroll and Vandoorne and they copped all the criticism until it turned to Palmer.
Kvyat's very average year went unnoticed until recently
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
Kvyat definitely deserved being dropped. However, as usual, Helmut Marko did it in the worst most humiliating and painful possible way. Why kick the guy when he is down? Why not just say the priority is with developing drivers? Well... That's Red Bull for you.
denis1304
Posts: 284
one more driver to fall from RB grace with no future in F1