Daniil Kvyat has described how he and former Toro Rosso team-mate Carlos Sainz have had “hot moments” in their collaboration. The two drivers raced together in the 2016 and 2017 seasons before either driver separated their tactics from Red Bull’s formula ahead of 2018. campaign.
Kvyat moved up to F1 in 2014, partnering Jean-Eric Verge at Toro Rosso. His performances proved to be enough to earn him an early call-up to the Red Bull team the following year, and early symptoms were positive as a first driver. Every podium in Hungary helped him finish ahead of teammate Daniel Ricciardo in qualifying.
However, the start of the 2016 season was a crisis and with Max Verstappen impressive in the junior team, the pressure on Kvyat from the start. A disastrous start in his home race in Russia saw him demoted to Toro Rosso, where he would marry. with Sainz for the next two seasons.
“Today Carlos and I are very smart friends, but when we were teammates there were some hot moments,” Kvyat told F1. com. “We traveled a lot together, we had contact on the track and even our parents had to step in and say, ‘Hey guys, calm down!'”
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While Kvyat and Sainz were team-mates, the two drivers’ careers were on different trajectories with the latter coming off the back of a strong rookie season, during which he offered stiff competition for the star prospect Verstappen.
“It started to be a difficult time because my motivation was low to return to Toro Rosso, some other car that had a different philosophy,” Kvyat continued. “Carlos was very hungry and self-confident with this car, and I, at the same time, On the other hand. . . Neither hungry, nor self-confident.
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“There’s nothing you can do against a hungry Carlos with this intellectual approach. There were flashes of decent racing, but it wasn’t the most productive season. In 2017 it was a bit of a bigger focus, but it’s still not up to the task. scratch, and I think we were just breaking tactics with Red Bull.
“It was obvious that we needed a break. So 2018 was the year of the hiatus and I became a reserve and control driver for Ferrari. It’s smart there. Honestly, I only needed it to eat, go for a run, and sleep.