Nothing is certain at this point, but as far as the head of Scuderia Toro Rosso is concerned, he hopes Daniil Kvyat stays with the team next season.
After winning titles in Formula Renault 2.0 and GP3, the young Russian driver made his Formula One debut with Toro Rosso in 2014.
Though he didn’t score any podiums and only eight championship points, Red Bull called him up to the front-running team last season, where he impressed with a second-place finish in Hungary.
Kvyat scored another podium in China earlier this year, but the team elected to bump him back down to Toro Rosso again in the middle of the season, swapping places with Max Verstappen. That’s left Kvyat with a bit of a confidence deficit, but his boss thinks he still has a lot to give.
“I personally hope he will race with us because I am convinced that sooner or later he will show his real performance and he will come back with his speed,” Franz Tost told Autosport. “I can understand it [the lack of confidence] because it was a big rotation coming from Red Bull back to Toro Rosso. But on the other side Red Bull – which is the only company in the world which has two Formula 1 teams – gave him the possibility to stay in Formula 1 and continue racing, and he should see this from the positive side.”
That’s a pretty solid endorsement from the team principal, but the extension of Kvyat’s contract is not up to him – and it’s not up to Kvyat alone, either. Decisions on driver contracts are made by Red Bull for both of its teams. So to earn another season, Kvyat will have to bounce back and show the powers that be that he’s still got it.
PHOTOS
