“I still have a lot to give” - Kvyat not giving up on F1 after AlphaTauri axe
Daniil Kvyat says he will take a step back and consider his options for the future following the formal confirmation he won’t be racing with the AlphaTauri team in the 2021 Formula 1 World Championship.
The Russian racer will be replaced in the energy drink firm’s secondary team next season by Yuki Tsunoda, who steps up from F2 to make his debut in 2021 alongside the retained Pierre Gasly.
It brings Kvyat’s latest stint with AlphaTauri to an end following his return to the series in 2019, during which he was a fairly regular point-scorer and included a run to the podium in the 2019 German Grand Prix at Hockenheim.
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However, after being matched closely by then rookie Alex Albon in 2019 and out-performed by Gasly in 2020, Kvyat has subsequently been frozen out of the AlphaTauri squad in favour of Red Bull junior and Honda protege Tsunoda.
With only two vacant seats remaining on the 2021 F1 grid (at Mercedes and Red Bull) it leaves Kvyat facing an uncertain future within the top tier, albeit not for the first time in his career.
With this in mind, Kvyat - speaking to Crash.net exclusively - says he won’t rule out the prospect of taking a year out with a view to fully focus on a return in 2022 when the series overhauls its regulations.
“[I want a] vacation, nothing else… then we see for 2022” he replied when asked what his future plans are. “I'll try to come back, because I feel like in the right ambience with the right people around me in the right car, which I like, I can be extremely competitive. And I still feel like I have a lot to give, I am grateful of course for everything, for all these years.
“It was great, great stint, also these last two years with a team. That is fantastic. And they are amazing.”
On Red Bull F1 future - "Never say never..."
Making his F1 debut with Toro Rosso in 2014, Kvyat was promoted to Red Bull Racing in 2015 where he proved close competition for Daniel Ricciardo en route to seventh in the overall standings.
However, his form dipped after he was controversially shuffled back to Toro Rosso four races into the 2016 season in favour of Max Verstappen. He’d remain with the team until the end of 2017, before joining Ferrari as its reserve driver for 2018 only to return to racing again with Toro Rosso in 2019
As for whether he will remain associated with Red Bull going forward, Kvyat accepts the ‘on-off’ relationship means the time has perhaps come for him to move on.
“You can never say... Life teaches you never say never to anything. But of course, I think we've been on off quite a long time now.
“I'm open to many ideas [reserve role]. I don't say no to anything right now. Next year, I think racing wise, perhaps I would like a year off. But we will see, if something really extremely good will come up, of course I'll think about saying yes.
“Otherwise, we'll try to focus us to come back to come back in Formula 1 in 2022.”
Only the second Russian driver to start in F1 following Vitaly Petrov, Kvyat has accumulated 110 F1 starts, notching up three podiums, with a career best second place finish in the 2015 Hungarian Grand Prix.
