WorldMags.net
“YOU CAN BE
GIFTED WITH
TALENT, BUT
YOU CANNOT
BE GIFTED
EXPERIENCE”
DANIIL KVYAT
46 AUTOSPORT.COM MARCH 5 2015
WorldMags.net
STALEY/LAT
THOMPSON/GETTY
hanks to Sebastian Vettel’s
decision to quit Red Bull and seek a fresh
challenge at Ferrari, 20-year-old Russian Daniil
Kvyat will this season step into one of the most
coveted seats on the F1 grid, having previously
competed in only 19 grands prix.
The comparisons with his new team-mate,
Daniel Ricciardo, are inevitable. Twelve months
ago Ricciardo was a relatively unproven driver
(albeit with an impressive junior single-seater
racing pedigree) who’d spent two years showing
occasional flashes of speed and lower-pointsscoring ability for Toro Rosso. Now he
is feted as a three-time grand prix winner,
vanquisher of Vettel, and an emerging Formula 1
superstar. Kvyat is the latest driver to come off
the Red Bull Junior/Toro Rosso talent conveyor
belt, essentially following in the smiling
Australian’s wheel tracks and aspiring to ‘do
a Ricciardo’ in 2015.
But, just as questions about 17-year-old Max
Verstappen’s lack of
experience dog the
Dutchman at every turn,
so doubts have been and
are still being raised about
Kvyat’s suitability to
drive for one of F1’s most
successful teams after
just one season of racing
at the highest level. The
Russian does not have the
benefit of Ricciardo’s
prior experience before
graduating to Red Bull (50
races for Toro Rosso and
HRT over two-and-a-half
seasons), but if you
compare their first full
seasons driving for Toro
Rosso (Ricciardo in 2012
and Kvyat in 2014) Kvyat
compares favourably.
Results on his debut
were similar, his qualifying peaks were similar,
and his best points scoring finishes were similar.
You could argue the midfield was less
competitive in 2014 than two years previously,
but there’s no doubt Kvyat’s debut season in F1
was highly impressive by any measure. Kvyat
himself is certainly not fazed by the prospect of
going up against one of F1’s brightest emerging
talents in the same team so soon in his career.
Progressing from Formula BMW to the Red Bull
F1 team in just five seasons? No problem.
“If you look at the amount of things that
happened to me in the last 15 months it might
look a bit crazy, it’s true,” says Kvyat, when
asked if things ever feel like they might be
moving a little too quickly. “Every time you
have to keep adapting, keep changing your mind
a bit. Yeah, it’s not easy, but you have to know
how to take the realities and it should be fine.
Off-track excursion at Jerez
proved costly – the team
only had one front wing
Final Barcelona test
was hampered by
technical “issues”
S BLOXHAM/LAT
SEASON
46
PREVIEW
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“I feel like the speed is there from my side,
it’s just about putting all the things together.
I believe that all the things that are happening
are meant to be – all the negative things, all the
positive things – I take them as they are.
“There is no ideal world here, so you just have
to take things as they are. If they are hard to you
that means that something has probably gone
slightly wrong and that means you have to
correct your direction.
“In my situation right now there are all the
things to find for myself. I see the team has some
fantastic resources, and we just need to bring the
team forward, that’s it.”
This simple, pragmatic attitude is typical of
Kvyat. His is a no-nonsense character: young
and raw, but mature beyond his years, and
utterly focused on becoming one of the very
best racing drivers in the world. Michael
Schumacher worshipper Vettel has set the
template for the sort of driver Red Bull wants
inside its fold. Now Vettel has departed to try
to emulate his hero and rebuild a debilitated
Ferrari team, Kvyat has the chance to prove he
is made of similar stuff. The fact that he is an
admirer of Schumacher – and tennis champion
Roger Federer – is an encouraging sign, for
these are two individuals who haven’t just
dominated their respective sports, but defined
them for a generation.
“I always liked the approach of Schumacher,”
explains Kvyat. “For me he is almost like an ideal
driver in behaviour and the way he did things.
Another great example is Roger Federer. His
calmness, his attitude during the game is
fantastic. The control of the emotions is huge,
and this is something that
comes with experience
because you cannot be
gifted with experience.
You can be gifted with
talent, but you cannot be
gifted with experience.”
This is something of
which Kvyat’s paymasters
are well aware. It is no
secret that, ideally, Red
Bull would have preferred
to give Kvyat at least
another season to develop
at Toro Rosso (while
Vettel saw out the final
season of his contract
with the senior team). To
a certain extent, Vettel’s
early departure has forced
Red Bull’s hand. But then
again, it could have opted
to chase another bone fide
A-lister, such as Fernando Alonso.
Instead, it has opted to keep faith in its own
ladder of talent. According to Red Bull boss
Christian Horner, the superb campaign mounted
by Ricciardo in 2014 has given everyone within
the organisation faith that it doesn’t need to
draw upon the small pool of established pros to
be successful as a racing operation. That’s why it
has promoted Kvyat instead.
“His disadvantage is experience – he’s got 19
races to his name,” admits Horner to
AUTOSPORT. “But his learning trajectory
has been very impressive. I think he’ll surprise
a few people this year.
“The transition that Daniel Ricciardo had
from Toro Rosso gave us confidence to bring
up the juniors from Toro Rosso. Dan had such
a wonderful season last year, and Kvyat –
against a very quick team-mate – did a very
Team chose Kvyat rather
than recruiting an
established star driver