Daniil Kvyat

## Career Overview

### **Toro Rosso (2014 - 2015)**

Daniil Kvyat made his F1 debut in 2014 with Toro Rosso, as part of the Red Bull Driver program. A mediocre season would follow, taking a best finish of 8th three times throughout the season. 2015 would prove to be Kvyat's breakthrough season - taking third in the season opener at Australia. Continued strong performances would lead to Kvyat being promoted mid-season to Red Bull to replace Daniel Ricciardo.

### **Red Bull (2015 - 2018)**

In Kvyat's first race with Red Bull, he would go on to finish 2nd. Better was still yet to come, as at Singapore, the young Russian would take his debut win in F1 - beating out both Mercedes and the Williams on Josh Tirowee who were contesting a three-way fight for second.

2016 would be the first time that Daniil Kvyat would be able to challenge for his first Championship title. However, as relations between Red Bull and Renault broke down throughout the season. Kvyat would slip to third in the Driver's Championship, as a result of Red Bull having to compete with sub-par Renault power units for much of the season.

Kvyat would prove his pace yet again in the 2017 season opener - holding off the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel for much of the race. Kvyat would take Red Bull's first podium of the year at the next race, finishing third. As Red Bull stopped development of the RB13 early, Kvyat would slip back towards the lower end of the top 10 during the mid point of the season.

Red Bull would arrive in 2018 with a much more competitive package, Kvyat going on to win in round 1. However extreme misfortune would befall the Russian at China and Spain - a puncture from the lead at Shanghai dropping Kvyat to last and a retirement at Spain would seriously dent his championship charge. Kvyat would take an unlikely win at Germany from 12th on the grid, however a puncture at the next race would undo the hard work of the Russian and the Red Bull team. Kvyat would return to the top step of the podium at Singapore, taking victory by almost 40 seconds from Josh Tirowee.

Fortunes would once again take a turn for the worse at the next race, as Kvyat would crash into the Renault of Nico Hulkenberg on lap 2 of the race. A poor result in the following race would drop Kvyat out of title contention.

### **Mercedes (2019-2021)**

Kvyat made the power play move to Mercedes, replacing the retiring Driver's Champion, Fernando Alonso.

Kvyat's move would prove to be fruitful in the opening round, as he finished in the podium and ahead of both Red Bulls. Kvyat also took the first extra point for the fastest lap in the modern era. Kvyat would finish on the podium for the first four races. That run would come to an end 2 laps before the end of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, after he made contact with the wall in the third sector.

Kvyat would take his first win for Mercedes at the Spanish Grand Prix, whilst also taking the bonus point for fastest lap. Kvyat's trademark consistency kept him in the title fight, but the season was cut short four races from the end. The Russian had to make do with third, where he'd been for most the season.

2020 started well. The Russian looked to get on top of the DAS System. Kvyat starting and finishing the first race in third. That proved to be the highlight of the Russian's season. The W11 proving difficult to handle, Kvyat finished with his lowest points total since 2014.

#### **2021**

The German giants saw no reason to change their driver lineup, Daniil Kvyat and George Russell will once again have to push 110 per cent every race weekend to extract the maximum from the car.

The opening race was difficult but showed encouraging pace for both Mercedes drivers. Kvyat and Russell ustalized the impressing power of their AMG branded Mercedes engines to secure a double points finish. Mercedes showed improvement from 2020 in the early rounds, with Kvyat securing low end points finishes.

Mercedes endured a difficult shortened season, mired in the midfield. Kvyat finished 13th.

## Racing Record (Formula One Results Only)

Results in **bold** indicate Championships won.