The name Daniil Kvyat will be one that's very familiar with Formula One fans far an wide. 'The Torpedo' made a name for himself for multiple reasons over the span of his F1 career, 2014 to 2020, making 112 race entries, amassing 3 podiums as he raced for Toro Rosso, Red Bull and Alpha Tauri while also serving non-race roles for Ferrari and Alpine and entertaining massively.
Kvyat however, always felt a bit like he never reached the level he was clearly capable of for one reason or another.
📸 Daniil Kvyat getting race ready with Red Bull.
Let's have a look at the key moments of his junior career before F1:
Single seater debut - 2010 - Formula BMW Pacific, Sepang - finished best of 5th on debut races
2011 - numerous Formula Eurocup events, racing names like Carlos Sainz, Stoffel Vandoorne, Robin Frijns, and Jake Dennis - managed two 3rd place and one 2nd place championship result
2012 - wins Formula Renault Alps series title, raced against the likes of Esteban Ocon, Alex Albon and Norman Nato
2013 - wins GP3 title ahead of Facu Regalia and Conor Daly and becomes Toro Rosso test driver
completes two F1 free practice sessions with Toro Rosso at COTA and Interlagos
📸 Kvyat in his junior years.
For 2014, Kvyat was announced to be joining Toro Rosso for a full race seat alongside Jean-Eric Vergne, replacing Daniel Ricciardo who moved up to the Red Bull team.
Kvyat was largely impressive, able to match and challenge team Vergne for much of the season, finishing 15th overall in the standings, two places behind Vergne and also breaking the record set by Sebastian Vettel for the youngest driver to score points on their debut in F1.
In 2015, Vettel's departure from Red Bull to Ferrari saw Kvyat promoted to the Red Bull team alongside Ricciardo. Kvyat showed good improvement as he stepped up, managing to take a maiden F1 podium in Hungary for a Red Bull team not in its strongest position. Kvyat ended the year 7th overall, ahead of Ricciardo.
📸 Kvyat in the Red Bull garage.
For 2016, Red Bull retained Kvyat, but incidents in China and at Sochi - his home race - saw Red Bull promote 18 year old Max Verstappen to the top team, demoting Kvyat back to Toro Rosso after just 4 rounds of the season. Kvyat would go on to end the season 14th overall, below teammate Carlos Sainz, as well as Verstappen who would help to turn the fortunes of the Red Bull team around.
📸 Carlos Sainz was Kvyat's teammate for 2016 and most of 2017.
Kvyat's downturn of form and fortunes saw him replaced during the 2017 season, managing only two 9th places overall before he was replaced by 2016 GP2 title winner Pierre Gasly who was racing in the Japanese Super Formula series at the time. Kvyat would make a further appearance at the USGP while Gasly was completing the Super Formula season.
For 2018, Kvyat was also considered by Williams for a race seat, but was ultimately not selected, while compatriot Sergey Sirotkin was. This meant Kvyat was left without a drive for the year, but did join Ferrari as the team's official reserve driver.
📸 Testing with Ferrari's SF71H.
2019 saw Kvyat return to the Toro Rosso team alongside rookie Thai driver Alex Albon as Pierre Gasly moved up to Red Bull replacing Ricciardo, while Brendon Hartley also left.
📸 Kvyat and Alex Albon lined up together in 2019 before Albon's swift promotion to Red Bull.
Midway through the season, and shortly after Kvyat took his second F1 podium at an entertaining German Grand Prix, Kvyat led Albon in the points by 22 to 15 when shockingly, Red Bull dropped recently promoted Pierre Gasly for the resumption of the season after the summer shutdown. Red Bull opted to select Albon over Kvyat, despite Kvyat showing the better form. From then on, Kvyat managed 15 more points for the remainder of the season.
📸 Kvyat celebrates his third place at Hockenheim.
In 2020, Toro Rosso rebranded as Alpha Tauri, but retained Kvyat alongside Gasly who would win for the Italian side at Monza, capping an incredible turnaround from his Red Bull demotion. Kvyat meanwhile still managed a season best finish of 4th at Imola, narrowly missing out on a podium as COVID-19 heavily disrupted the season. 2020 would prove to be Kvyat's last in F1, as Alpha Tauri opted to sign Yuki Tsunoda next to Gasly for 2021.
Upon his departure, Kvyat remained a part in the F1 paddock, signing with Alpine to serve as reserve driver with Chinese F2 driver Zhou Guanyu, but never raced for the team.
📸 Kvyat takes part in a tyre test for Alpine.
Since then however, he's left the Alpine set up and has dabbled in racing in NASCAR as well as the World Endurance Championship(WEC) and is expected to test Formula E machinery in the coming weeks. In a recent story, he revealed he could have joined Ferrari for 2016, potentially replacing Kimi Raikkonen. Still only 28, Kvyat still has his best years ahead of him, where would you like to see him race? Could he ever come back to F1? Was he treated unfairly by Red Bull's higher management? What are your opinions on him?
📸 Image credits: Sky Sports, Alpha Tauri, Red Bull Racing, Formula Motorsport Limited, Scuderia Ferrari, Pirelli Motorsport.
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