Daniil Kvyat’s Shot at Redemption Against Max Verstappen Got Spoiled by Red Bull’s “Games”

Daniil Kvyat’s time at Red Bull was tumultuous, even though he spent just a year and a half with the main team. However, he had a chance to drive for them in 2019, when Pierre Gasly was sacked midway into the season. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get his redemption against Max Verstappen, because of certain “games” played at the team.

Verstappen replaced Kvyat midway into the 2016 season at Red Bull. Following that, he was demoted to Toro Rosso, where he spent two seasons, before leaving for Ferrari (as a reserve) and coming back to Toro Rosso in 2019. That year, there was a lot of drama behind the scenes at Red Bull regarding who Gasly’s replacement would be.

Kvyat, as per F1’s official website, revealed that there were talks of him becoming Verstappen’s teammate. In the end, his teammate at Toro Rosso that year got the nod. Kvyat said,

“There was other interest, other games going on behind and they needed to put my team-mate Alex Albon in Gasly’s car at that time, so that’s the way it went.”

Kvyat could have had his shot at redemption had Red Bull chosen him ahead of Albon. Instead, the Russian driver had to settle for driving for Toro Rosso, which became AlphaTauri just a year later. However, the thought of Kvyat and Verstappen driving for the same team seems unfathomable because of the link between the two drivers, not just professionally, but personally.

Could Daniil Kvyat and Max Verstappen have been teammates?

In 2016, Kvyat was struggling to match his then-Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo. That forced the team to look elsewhere, and Verstappen got his first shot at F1. This proved to be a golden move, as the Dutchman took the sport by storm and went on to become a three-time champion with the team.

Kvyat, meanwhile, spent a few more years as part of the team’s fraternity by driving for Toro Rosso/AlphaTauri but his stints were underwhelming, to say the least.

 

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Additionally, in 2021, Verstappen began publicly dating Kelly Piquet, who was in a relationship with Kvyat till 2019. They also have a daughter, Penelope, who now stays with Verstappen because of her mom’s current relationship.

All these factors taken into consideration, Kvyat and Verstappen being on the same team could have caused friction internally. While Kvyat insisted that he never held any animosity against the 26-year-old, the Russian driver does feel that he indirectly caused his F1 career to decline.