Daniil Kvyat

Points 32 Position 14 Date of Birth April / 26 / 1994
Place of Birth Ufa Team AlphaTauri Car Number 26

Profile

Daniil Kvyat is a Russian Formula 1 driver, born in Ufa on 26 April 1994.

Kvyat made his F1 debut back in 2014, replacing Daniel Ricciardo at Toro Rosso (now AlphaTauri) after he had been promoted to the Red Bull team.

After one year in the junior setup, Kvyat earned his own promotion to Red Bull where he would race alongside Ricciardo.

He would finish three points clear of Ricciardo in the 2015 Drivers' Championship, but part way through the 2016 season he was demoted back to Toro Rosso following a series of mistakes and incidents.

The 2017 season was still in progress though when Kvyat was dropped totally from the Red Bull programme, leaving him without a drive for 2018.

After spending the year as a simulator driver for Ferrari, Kvyat would return to F1 and the Red Bull programme in 2019 to partner fellow recalled prospect Alex Albon at Toro Rosso.

As well as his native Russian, Kvyat is also fluent in Italian, Spanish and English, while he can also speak some Finnish and Dutch.

He races with the number 26, but revealed he has no connection at all which made him pick that number.

Kvyat's hobbies include table tennis, football, wakeboarding and skiing.

He also likes heavy metal music, and has cited Metallica's Whiskey in the Jar' cover and Motörhead's 'Ace of Spades' as his two favourite songs.

Interestingly, until November 2015 he didn't hold a regular driving licence in his native Russia.

Career

Red Bull confirmed in October 2013 that Daniil Kvyat would take his first steps into Formula 1 with the Toro Rosso team as part of their 2014 line-up, racing alongside Jean-Eric Vergne.

At just 19 years of age Kvyat broke Vettel's record at the time as F1's youngest points scorer when he finished P9 in the opening round in Australia.

He would score further points in Malaysia, China, Britain and Belgium with a total of eight earning him P15 in the Championship.

In September of 2014 the organisers of the inaugural Russian Grand Prix even announced their intention of naming a stand in the Sochi Autodrom after him.

While that was exciting enough, probably the more important news to come from that year was that Kvyat would be promoted to Red Bull for 2015, taking the seat vacated by their four-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel.

His first podium arrived with a P2 finish at the Hungarian Grand Prix, making him the first Russian driver to feature on the F1 podium.

He ended the season P7 in the Championship with 95 points, three more than team-mate Ricciardo.

The start of 2016 was a real challenge though for the Russian with several high-profile incidents and crashes putting his future in serious doubt.

And after an incident during the start of his home race in Sochi when Kvyat collided with Vettel's Ferrari, Red Bull decided to demote the "torpedo" Kvyat back to Toro Rosso.

With Max Verstappen now driving his Red Bull, and sending it to victory at the first attempt in Spain, Kvyat tried his best to regain some much-needed form.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner said Kvyat's demotion was designed to allow him to regain his confidence and show his ability in a familiar environment, and a series of strong performances meant he was retained for 2017.

Kvyat kicked off the 2017 campaign with P9 in Australia, but soon things would start to go wrong through a combination of poor reliability and some driver errors.

It is safe to say Kvyat had reached rock bottom and, with the Malaysian GP approaching, it was announced that Kvyat would be replaced at Toro Rosso by Pierre Gasly.

Toro Rosso said this was not to be a permanent parting of ways, though, at the time saying: "This is not a case of goodbye for our Daniil, as he still remains part of the Red Bull Family."

Kvyat would indeed return to Toro Rosso, competing in the United States Grand Prix after Carlos Sainz made the move to Renault.

But despite scoring points with a P10 finish, Toro Rosso installed Gasly and Brendon Hartley as their drivers for the race in Mexico.

And then on 25 October 2017, it was confirmed by Red Bull advisor and head of the driver programme Dr Helmut Marko that Kvyat would not return to the team and would be released out of the Red Bull driver development programme.

Kvyat would sit out the 2018 season, spending it as a development driver for Ferrari, before he earned a shock recall to Toro Rosso and the Red Bull programme for 2019.

His team-mate would be Alex Albon, another driver recalled to the fold, leading some to criticise Red Bull for scraping the barrel so to speak with their junior system not bearing the fruits which it had done before.

For Kvyat though it would be a golden opportunity, and despite saying that both he and Red Bull had to take responsibility for how their first relationship had ended, he was keen to move on with a fresh start.

And he did a largely good job of it, staying competitive against Albon and even scoring a P3 finish in Germany to give Toro Rosso only their second podium in Formula 1.

Kvyat's former team-mate Gasly meanwhile had been struggling at Red Bull following his promotion, and the team decided to demote him back to Toro Rosso over the summer break, with Albon getting the call to move into the senior team.

Kvyat said that he was a "living example" to Gasly that it is possible to recover as part of Red Bull, and the Russian would ultimately finish the season P13 in the Championship with 37 points.

Kvyat, Gasly and Albon were all reportedly in contention for a 2020 Red Bull drive, but they chose to stick with the Verstappen/Albon partnership.

The now renamed AlphaTauri team retained the services of Kvyat and Gasly for 2020.

History

Daniil Kvyat began his karting career in his native Russia back in 2005, winning his first ever professional race on debut in Sochi.

Kvyat then moved to Italy to further his early racing career and forged a successful partnership with Morsicani Racing over the years, winning various World Series Karting rounds and the Bridgestone Cup.

He drew the attention of Red Bull in the process and would take bronze at the 2009 European Championship before it was decided that Kvyat should test himself at a higher level.

That meant Formula BMW and Formula Renault racing between the years of 2010 to 2012. 2011 delivered some respectable results: P2 in the Formula Renault 2.0 NEC series, P3 in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 series and another P3 finish at the Formula Renault UK Finals series.

2012 would then see Kvyat bring home the Formula Renault 2.0 Alps title, while he also finished second in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0.

Kvyat then combined a Toro Rosso test driver role with a drive for MW Arden in the GP3 series. That resulted in another piece of silverware for the Russian as he finished top of the standings with 168 points.

Networth

Daniil Kvyat is reportedly earning in the region of £230,000 a year driving for Red Bull junior team, Toro Rosso, returning to the team for a third time after spending a season as a simulator driver for Ferrari.

Kvyat's main backer is software company, Acronis, who are owned by Russian billionaire, Serguei Beloussov.

Like many Formula 1 drivers, Kvyat's main residence is in Monaco.

Family

Daniil Kvyat's parents, Vyachelslav and Zulfiya, have been incredibly supportive in their son's quest to reach the lofty heights of Formula 1. They first moved to Moscow so Daniil could develop his career and then again to Italy so he could begin to test himself in the most competitive junior series on the planet.

Daniil Kvyat's girlfriend is Kelly Piquet, daughter of the legendary three-time Formula 1 World Champion, Nelson. Daniil and Kelly have a daughter together called Penelope.

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