Kvyat admits “mixed feelings” over first Russian race

2014 Russian Grand Prix

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Daniil Kvyat says he has mixed feelings over his country’s first F1 race this weekend following Jules Bianchi’s crash in the Japanese Grand Prix.

“Obviously it was a shock for me as well,” said Kvyat when the crash was discusses in today’s press conference.

“We couldn’t expect to hear quite negative news after the race finished. And all I wish now is that we can hear good, better news, positive news about Jules.”

“I really wish him to recover,” Kvyat added. “It’s the only thing that matters.”

“Nothing like this happens for a long time and we hope here in Formula One that the health for Jules and I’m thinking of him very often, like all of us. We’re all united to support him.”

Kvyat, who was announced as Red Bull’s new driver for 2015 last week, will be the only home driver on the grid for this weekend’s inaugural Russian Grand Prix. But he admitted he had “mixed feelings because of the atmosphere”.

“Our thoughts are still about Japan,” he added. “I think it will be like this for a while.”

However Kvyat said he was glad to see his home country hosting its first race which he did not expect to happen so soon after he started racing.

“On the other side, of course, it’s my home grand prix,” he said. “I’m pleased to see what I see here: big structures, big track.”

“I think around ten years ago still when I was starting my career we couldn’t have dreamed about this. Now this things became reality. Obviously it’s a special moment for me and the first time racing in Russia.

“We will anyway race, in the end it’s our work and we carry on doing what we’ve been doing for such a long time.”

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    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    13 comments on “Kvyat admits “mixed feelings” over first Russian race”

    1. Hans (@hanswesterbeek)
      9th October 2014, 13:28

      I watched the pressco, and it was a very uncomfortable one. Nobody really wanted to speak about Bianchi because it’s so horrendous, but nobody really wanted to speak about anything else too because their thoughts were with Bianchi.
      I wonder how Sutil must have felt, being invited to this press conference because he was standing next to the tractor last week. Same goes for Massa, who was invited because he was the last driver before Bianchi to be knocked out during a Grand Prix.

      1. Massa is also close to Bianchi because of their Ferrari connections, and they’re both managed by Nicolas Todt. But that’s quite normal in a way that they invite drivers who have some connections to any recent event to the press conference.

        But yes, it was sad to see all of them, at some point I thought someone was going to cry, Fernando seemed especially under the mood… And it was surely the longest press conference for a long while (about three quarters of an hour), for example in Singapore they finished in less than 10 minutes, so you really sensed what they felt like for a long time here.

    2. A very mature approach. I have always thought that there are many similarities between Kvyat and Vettel and I think the big mental strength at such a young age is one of them.

      1. I agree with you there. For an incredibly young man, speaking in a (to him) foreign language, he has been very good at being clear with his words. He sounds very grounded and the same kind of detached view, where he can look at things from a larger perspective than his own.

    3. after Russian inviolment in the shooting down of the Malaysian Jet, the organisers of this should be ashamed of themselves.

      1. Every country on the calender is involved with nasty political and military actions. As a Canadian, I am ashamed that my country has decided to help the US bomb Iraq and Syria. Australia should be ashamed for similar reasons. Russia, Malaysia, Bahrain and China have poor human rights records. I could go on and on, but I won’t. Where do we draw the line? Even Monaco harbors some true scum. At least Formula 1 usually brings us some joy in this messed up world.

      2. Actually, the investigators found that evidence points to the US backed Ukrainians who shot the plane. That’s why you haven’t heard much about it after all the initial pre-investigation shouting and finger-pointing.

    4. WilliamB (@william-brierty)
      9th October 2014, 14:33

      It was incredible how a young man in his first year at the peak of motorsport, speaking in a second language managed to convey such a genuine sense of grief. The staggering maturity of not only Kvyat, but also of Verstappen in the few media interviews he’s conducted, is perhaps the best answer to the question why are F1 drivers getting younger; the pure and simple answer is young drivers are maturing faster. When the inevitable doubts came following Daniil’s announcement on Saturday they tended to revolve around those throwaway concepts of immaturity and inexperience; but surely a driver is a class act if, without GP2 or FR3.5 experience, he can challenge his talented and more experienced teammate straight out of the starting blocks? There is no doubt in my mind that he’ll excel at Red Bull, and that a prosperous career awaits him…

    5. Good guy Dani, nice words.

    6. Expected no less from Dani. He’s a very good chap.

      I have very mixed feelings too. If not for Jules’ crash, right now I’d be extremely happy and waiting impatiently for the 1st practice of my first ever home gran prix. But I just can’t. What happened is so horrible it just overshadows everything else…

    7. If the test is crisis and observation, then I like what I’m seeing from D.K.

    8. Talking about pushing an agenda with the misleading title.

      1. The headline it not at all misleading. It is a direct quote from Kvyat.

        And I don’t know what “agenda” you think I am “pushing”.

        I thought Kvyat’s conduct under the circumstances was admirable. If it weren’t for the circumstances of Suzuka this would be a massive event for him – he’s the first Russian driver to race at home and it’s just been announced he’s got a Red Bull contract in his back pocked. But he played that down and spoke in a heartfelt way about the trauma of Bianchi’s crash.

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