AlphaTauri’s Daniil Kvyat has rated Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo as his fastest teammate in F1 from the time they spent together at Red Bull Racing.
Kvyat was promoted to the Red Bull seat in 2015 alongside Ricciardo after Sebastian Vettel moved to Ferrari. It was an early promotion effectively as the Russian only had one year with Toro Rosso (now AlphaTauri) but lack of options left them with no choice.
He didn’t disappoint on a larger level as Kvyat ended up seventh in the drivers’ standings, more importantly, he was ahead of Ricciardo by three points. But things started to change in 2016 when the Russian had some troubles with his driving.
It co-incided with Max Verstappen’s quick growth as Kvyat was effectively demoted after just four rounds. Having raced against multiple teammates like Jean-Eric Vergne, Carlos Sainz, Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly, the Russian rates Ricciardo as the fastest he has had.
When asked about his future and the strongest driver he has raced and currently on the grid, Kvyat stated: “We haven’t done the first race so far, we hope that when we start again we will be able to do well with the AlphaTauri, because that’s the goal now.
“We did good in tests, I was happy because we worked well. It is a disappointment not being able to race now. For the future you never know, in this sport there are many possibilities if you do well. We will see. The ideal companion?
“All I have had have been and are very competitive, one of the fastest is Ricciardo. When we were in Red Bull has been a good season with him. But everyone is very fast. The facts speak, Hamilton is winning all over currently.
“He has managed to find great confidence with his Mercedes. If there is an overrated? In F1 you cannot say why there are ups and downs. But when you have too many ups and downs teams don’t like it,” summed up Kvyat to Sky Sports Italia.
Kvyat also noted that his podium in 2019 with Toro Rosso was a moment which he thought he may never get to live again after he lost his F1 seat in 2017. Coming back to the current scenario, the Russian stated that he is training as much in Monaco.
Here’s last update from Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat
Here’s Esteban Ocon on Aus GP, current happenings
Here’s Mattia Binotto on calendar discussions
Here’s Pirelli notifying on 13-inch and 18-inch tyres