Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost says that he is hopeful that Daniil Kvyat will make a return to Formula 1 in the near future. The Russian was dropped completely by the Red bull programme this year after losing his seat at Toro Rosso.
Kvyat was originally demoted so Pierre Gasly could show his worth in the sport. However, for the US Grand Prix weekend, Carlos Sainz departed the team for Renault and Gasly missed the race to compete in the Super Formula finale. Kvyat was brought back to partner Brendon Hartley, who made his F1 debut.
Following a tenth place at the US Grand Prix, Red Bull confirmed that it had dropped Kvyat completely, with Gasly and Harley finishing the season for the team. It was soon confirmed that the aforementioned duo would form Toro Rosso's line-up for 2018.
Kvyat's only hope of making a return to the grid next year is at Williams. It is believed that he is now the second favourite for the seat, behind compatriot Sergey Sirotkin. Tost remains hopeful that Kvyat will make it back into the sport.
"I am still convinced that Daniil has a very high natural speed," Tost told the official F1 website. "He was sometimes even faster than Daniel Riccardo, but somehow last year and this year he couldn't show the potential that is within him.
"He was involved in many incidents - but in his defence I also have to say that he had many reliability issues and that didn't help build up confidence. Being the victim of too many incidents killed the performance he would have been able to show. Maybe a short break - to get organised again - and probably we will see Daniil back at his usual performance level with another team."
If Kvyat was ever to make a comeback, Tost said that his opening lap aggressiveness was his weakest point and is something he would need to fine tune: "Sometimes he was too aggressive at the beginning of the race. The first corner was his weak point.
"He wanted too much in the first hundred metres - success by any means! That puts you under pressure, unnecessary pressure and that never works. I hope for him that he gets another chance, as I think he deserves to be in F1."
Fergal Walsh
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