Daniil Kvyat, AlphaTauri, Imola, 2020

Kvyat says “very risky move” paid off for fourth place

2020 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix

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Daniil Kvyat said he had to take risks at the restart to score his season-best result of fourth place in the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.

The AlphaTauri driver pitted for a set of soft tyres ahead of the restart and immediately passed Sergio Perez, Alexander Albon and Charles Leclerc for fourth place.

“It was a very entertaining race for myself and I guess for everyone else,” said Kvyat. “It was a very strong race. I’m very happy from my side.”

“I had a lot of fun on that Safety Car restart lap. I overtook two cars on the main straight. Very risky move, but it paid off.

“Then I think Leclerc around the outside in turn nine, it was very good fun. I had to take some risks.”

Kvyat closed on Daniel Ricciardo but was unable to take third place off the Renault driver.

“It was a shame, of course, to miss out by very little on the podium spot. But I pushed until the end.

“Daniel just managed to warm up his tyres when I got behind him. So maybe there’s something we can look into in the future. But nevertheless, I’m very happy, very proud of this result.”

Kvyat praised his team’s decision to pit him during the Safety Car period. “From the team’s side, no mistakes, very good decision-making process. I’m very happy with them. I’ve been in this team since 2014 and they came a long way, I can see that, and I’m proud of them.”

Earlier this week AlphaTauri confirmed Pierre Gasly, who retired early on in the race with a loss of water pressure, will remain with them next year. However Kvyat’s place at the team remains uncertain.

“I’m doing enough, sure, but it’s not everything up to me,” he said when asked about his future. “There are other things that are out of my control and I’m just focussing on enjoying these last five races of the year and then we will see.”

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2020 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix

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11 comments on “Kvyat says “very risky move” paid off for fourth place”

  1. Maybe it was a somewhat risky move, yeah. But well done Kvyat for pulling this one off. One of the highlights of the race.

    1. Not that risky after watching the onboard.

      Yes, it was a good move around the outside of Leclerc, and it seems impressive due to the camera angle.
      From onboard, Leclerc was very slow out of the Piratella corner.

      1. I think the fact Imola is only 10m wide makes what is normally a standard move, a lot more risky! Bearing in mind these modern F1 cars are 2m wide…

    2. Somewhat risky move, after watching the onboard.

      Yes, it was a good move around the outside of Leclerc, and it seems impressive due to the camera angle.
      From onboard, Leclerc was very slow out of the Tosca hairpin and wasn’t really defending down the outside as Kvyat had just passed the Ferrari before corning to Piratella.

    3. That is the problem with Kvyatt.. he can do great things but there is no consistency. He is the likes of Grosjean.. brilliant at moments and totally dumb on other occasions.

  2. Yes, a good race by him, but unfortunately for him, he’s likely going to end up without a drive for next season anyway since Tsunoda has been embedded for the other one at AT, so unlikely Red Bull would go back on this because of this single race. Kvyat, after all, only got another chance due to RB lacking options in the academy. The same also applies to Albon.
    Helmut Marko has recently given the clearest of hint to this likely possibility in an interview with Germany’s Sky.

  3. In my opinion, he would have finished 4th anyway if they hadn’t pitted him. But man we would’ve been robbed of these 3 overtakes and it being the highlight of the race. Basically, he did most overtakes in the entire race. The only others i can remember is Verstappen on Lewis at the start and on Bottas later. And yeah, the Magnussen train +2.

    1. don’t forget Sainz’s move on Norris, great stuff

      1. And how he managed to avoid t-bonig a spinning Albon and still keep his position, I just don’t know

  4. Monza race could have gone eather way to Gasly or Kvyat so good to see Kvyat getting a good result. I’m afraid it is too little too late for him..

  5. Awesome banzai move, but took a good response from the other guy too so credit all round.

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