Daniil Kvyat has agreed a deal to become Scuderia Ferrari’s development driver ahead of the 2018 Formula One season, the Maranello team has officially announced earlier today, providing support to full-time pairing Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen. The 23-year-old Russian auto racing driver stepped up to Formula 1 with Toro Rosso in 2014, and graduated to Red Bull for the 2015 season, following Vettel’s surprise decision to join Ferrari.
Daniil Kvyat, though, was demoted to Toro Rosso after four rounds in 2016, and then rested after last year’s Singapore Grand Prix, having scored just eight points in his second spell at the junior team. He returned for the United States Grand Prix, as Carlos Sainz Jr. made an early switch to Renault, and Pierre Gasly focused on Super Formula, taking a point in 10th.
However, he was then dropped from Red Bull’s programme altogether, casting serious doubt over his Formula 1 future, with only one seat left on the 2018 grid, at Williams. After assessing his options, which led to a NASCAR Euro Series test run, the 23-year-old Russian has taken up a development position at Ferrari. Toro Rosso team boss Franz Tost recently argued that Kvyat deserves to be in Formula 1, and hoped to see him “get another chance” with a rival team.
Buy official Ferrari F1 products!
Leave a Reply