After qualifying 15th and behind his rookie teammate at the Australian Grand Prix, Daniil Kvyat redeemed himself with a strong race to claim a point on race day in Melbourne.
The Russian, making a return to the grid with Toro Rosso, was welcomed back into the Red Bull fold after being ditched a year and a bit earlier and in his first race back he justified their call-up.
A year on the sidelines as Ferrari simulator driver appears to have matured the Torpedo, who now looks forward to building from where he left off Down Under at this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix.
Previewing his weekend at Sakhir, Kvyat said, “The way things went in Australia meant it was a very good way to start the season. It was a real confidence boost for the team because the indications are that we are in the mix with everyone.”
“It puts us all in a positive frame of mind as we go to the next race in Bahrain. It’s clear we can fight with others, with the teams around us in the midfield, which is very promising. We have to keep working hard on developing our package and improving our understanding of the car.”
“I also have to work hard with my engineering crew, to ensure we extract everything out of the car in every session we have on track and we can see where that takes us in Bahrain.”
“In Australia, I was impressed with the way the team worked operationally with everyone, as the mechanics and engineers all played their part. It’s good to see this spirit in the team and we need to continue with this approach in the coming races.”
“I’ve not had any particularly great results in Bahrain in the past, but the track is interesting and nice to drive. It’s a very different circuit to Albert Park, it’s a real race track and therefore it will be a very good test for us to see how the car works there.”
“Bahrain is more similar to many other tracks on the calendar than Albert Park, so we should get a slightly clearer idea of where we are and how good our car is.”
“The temperatures will be higher than in Melbourne, so again it will be more representative of the tyre conditions we will encounter during the major part of the season,” added Kvyat.