Ahead of his Formula 1 comeback, Daniil Kvyat refused to comment on whether or not he thinks he has "changed", but has vowed to let his driving do the talking.
The Russian will partner Alexander Albon at Toro Rosso this season, just over one year after he was dropped entirely from the Red Bull programme. Kvyat made his debut for Toro Rosso in 2014, before being promoted to the senior team for the 2015 campaign.
However, after his home race in 2016, Max Verstappen was promoted in his place, and he dropped back to the junior squad, before being eventually dropped towards the end of the 2017 season.
Last year, he took up a role as a Ferrari development driver, helping it to improve set-ups and car balance over the course of a race weekend. And ahead of his return, he is aiming to show strong results and prove his worth in the sport.
"I don’t want to say whether I’ve changed or not. I know there’s been a lot of speculation about this and whether I’ve matured or not and so on, but I prefer to let my driving on the track answer.
“I just want to get in the car and see what happens. There is plenty of work to do and four days on track in Barcelona before we go racing, which will be very important for everyone.”
Kvyat denied that his year out with Ferrari was a negative season, as he was out of a racing seat: “I enjoyed my time working with Ferrari, which helped me keep in good shape and in touch with what is going on in Formula 1 on the technical front.
"My last race was 2017, then I was back a year after, pretty much. Yes, there has been an evolution from the car that I last drove for Toro Rosso, but things haven’t changed dramatically so I was able to pick it up, not exactly from where I left off, but I was still pretty much in the loop with everything.”
Local time
Local time
Bahrain International Circuit - Winter testing
Replies (5)
Login to replyxoya
Posts: 583
Hope it screams and shouts (in a good way), your driving I mean.
Jutlandia
Posts: 191
Just remember that we have not forgotten the nickname "Torpedo"
siggy74
Posts: 194
Insurance claim at the first corner and a very unhappy vettel. yep he,s back lol
Lets hope for the guys sake, he doesnt take vettel out at the start of the season....
Other wise replacement named by Monaco
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I still think this is why RBR want a fast Honda, and that they'll secretly make two specs: one balanced for RBR, and one full power with no reliability for STR. Kvyat will then, every start, rush up through the grid and torpedo any main team rivals.
boudy
Posts: 1,168
As long as the PUs are the same you can run different modes in code base. I can't see Honda signing up to an setup like that since it would have Honda PU committing harakiri on the track.