Toro Rosso technical director James Key says Daniil Kvyat will be given time to get up to speed with their car after he missed the cut for Q3 in qualifying.
Kvyat, who has moved back to the team from Red Bull this weekend, will start Sunday’s race from 13th on the grid, five places behind team mate Carlos Sainz Jnr.
Key described Kvyat’s workload since returning to Toro Rosso as being the equivalent of a winter testing programme compressed into a race weekend.
“We are working very well with him and he has had a lot to adapt to,” said Key. “With every run he has done he has got more used to the car and continually found more performance, and we are getting the set-up more towards what he is looking for.”
“Effectively we are trying to do the work of winter testing in the space of a race weekend. However Daniil’s learning curve has been very steep and he is settling in well. I think after Sunday’s race and a day of testing next week we will be back up to speed”
Kvyat missed the cut for Q3 after only being able to do a single run on new tyres in Q2 because he had used them in Q1.
“We went for a second run [in Q1] with Daniil just as a precaution, which unfortunately was not required,” Key explained. “This left him with only one completely new set of soft tyres in Q2, although the risk of not running again was a little too high at the time.”
“Maybe that put him at a bit of a disadvantage and he just missed out on Q3.”
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Girts (@girts)
14th May 2016, 18:30
Well, they could probably swap him with Pierre Gasly now if the latter had shown more promise in GP2. And Kvyat might find himself in a Formula 4 car before long…
regs (@regs)
14th May 2016, 18:36
For what? He was just 0.4 s behind Sainz on used tyres. Team told his to waste one of his tyre set in Q1.
regs (@regs)
14th May 2016, 18:37
Verstappen lost 0.4 s to Ricciardo on fresh tyres.
glacierre (@glacierre)
14th May 2016, 18:46
Indeed, talk about double standards.
MattDS (@mattds)
14th May 2016, 19:51
Sainz is not Ricciardo.
That said, no negative words from Key so can’t see the double standards.
Mike (@mike)
15th May 2016, 4:10
I think it was Girts who was being accused of double standards.
Girts (@girts)
14th May 2016, 18:53
I’m just wondering what might happen if Toro Rosso did not want to ‘show patience’. For sure, one qualifying session in a new car is not enough to judge any driver.
Botha (@nimrod351)
14th May 2016, 19:43
I agree
Patrick (@paeschli)
14th May 2016, 19:34
Anyone knows the Red Bull and Toro Rosso testing programme next week?
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
15th May 2016, 0:06
It must be harder to get used to a slower car than to get used to a faster car, I’m sure.
Not that qualy was Kvyat’s strong point during his time at Red Bull anyway…