New Toro Rosso signing Daniil Kvyat has thanked his 2018 employers Ferrari after a year working with them as a development driver.
It was announced over the Russian Grand Prix weekend that former Red Bull/Toro Rosso driver Daniil Kvyat would return to F1 in a Toro Rosso in 2019. The young Russian raced with Toro Rosso in 2014, promoted to Red Bull in 2015, but was demoted back to Toro Rosso in favour of Max Verstappen just a few rounds into the 2016 season. Struggling with confidence after that, he ended up seat sharing with Brendon Hartley towards the end of 2017 before leaving the outfit completely. He was picked up by Ferrari, who employed him as a development driver to help with working on their SF-71H.
With Kvyat now back in F1, he took the time to thank the Scuderia for giving him the opportunity to keep his foot in the door in F1: “I’m really thankful for this opportunity, to both Red Bull & Ferrari. It was a great year working for them, and I had the chance to regroup everything together.”
“I chose to go there as a development driver last year and I’m very pleased with how it went. Thanks to them and to Maurizio [Arrivabene]- they were very supportive and helpful. I know from working there that my job has been helpful and I spent a lot of time on the simulator developing and working on the car and helping during the race weekends. I really enjoyed it. It’s not the same as racing, but that’s what makes me now very happy to be back racing.”
In the interview with Formula1.com, he was asked whether he felt he was in a better place mentally to deal with the pressures of racing for Red Bull: “In a better place? Hard to say, but I feel I’m very positive. it’s very important to be in a good mental window and that’s what this year I was focusing on even though it wasn’t certain I’d be back.”
“Ups and downs are part of every athlete’s career and it’s not always a straight line to the top. You need these periods and you need to overcome them and that’s what’s happening. It’s a new challenge, and I’m looking forward to it. The challenge will be taking the max from myself, the car, and everyone in the team. I’m driving the car, and that’s what I’ll be focusing on doing that the best I can.”
With Kvyat only being confirmed as racing in 2019, he was asked whether he’d be with the team beyond that. He said: “I don’t want to go into the details of the deal, but the conversations were a little different to before. I’m very happy with the deal I have.”
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