In the round-up: Daniil Kvyat says his 2021 F1 season would have been very different if the breakthrough AlphaTauri made with his car late in the year had come sooner.
What they say
Having started outside the top 10 throughout the first dozen races in 2020, Kvyat only failed to line-up inside the top 10 at one of the final five rounds. He has been replaced by Yuki Tsunoda at AlphaTauri after being outscored 75-32 by team mate Pierre Gasly last season:Look, I always push the limit and of course you want to have a good feeling with the car, the right feeling with your car. It’s been improving, it’s been making me push the car harder.
My approach hasn’t changed this year. I never really went into some bad negative snowball or anything. It [would’ve been] easy, after the first few races when we realised the car is really not suiting you, to say ‘okay, whatever, I give up, I don’t care about this season anymore’. But I kept pushing and also this last race proves that I just kept pushing until the end. I never give up.
It’s a shame to understand a little bit like this. If we started the year with this kind of car it would be a very different story.
Quotes: Dieter Rencken
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Social media
Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:
"What a moment, that was so much fun. One of the best times I had in racing."
Join @oconesteban as he explores what it means to be "born in the alps, raised by racing" while he takes on the #RallyeMonteCarlo behind the wheel of the A110S. pic.twitter.com/NxKZqk7hUr— Alpine Cars (@AlpineCarsUK) January 24, 2021
Just heard Alex Henderson, one of the real characters behind the scenes in F1 for so long succumb to COVID. Rest in peace Alex.
— Mark Hughes (@markhughesF1) January 24, 2021
- Find more official F1 accounts to follow in the F1 Twitter Directory
Links
More motor racing links of interest:
Chinese racer on brink of F1 dream says 'last step the hardest' (The Japan Times)
"I would say definitely I’m the closest ever to get into Formula One as a Chinese driver. But the last step is the hardest because as well as the superlicence you need to have the opportunities or seat available to jump in."
W Series finds new partner to run its cars for 2021 season (Formula Scout)
"W Series has secured the services of a new team to run its cars in 2021, following the exit of former partner Hitech GP."
Everything you need to know about Formula E powertrains (Formula E)
"This year's equipment has up to 97 per cent efficiency, which means all but three per cent of the energy from the battery is converted into kinetic energy, making the car move."
Shaw writes history, caps amazing string of Indy 500 success in 1930s (Indianapolis Motor Speedway)
" But when he and the Firestone team arrived, the Speedway was in terrible shape. The track had laid dormant during the war, and weeds were overgrowing every aspect of the track. They even had to 'weed the groove' before their test could begin."
We always endeavour to credit original sources. If you have a tip for a link to feature in the next RaceFans round-up please send it in via the contact form.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Comment of the day
Mercedes aren’t likely to be caught this year, reckons XMG:
Given the multitude of changes for next season (2022) I doubt any team is going to be doing any meaningful development throughout the year so whoever starts ahead is likely to stay there.
In theory Mercedes has the advantage here given they dedicated almost all of last season towards developing the ’21 car, but they’ve also got to (re)implement conventional front suspension and stand to lose more than any other team in that regard.
I expect they will be ahead nonetheless and probably quite comfortably too. 2022 can’t come quick enough, I just hope the racing’s better too!
XMG (@sparkyamg)
Happy birthday!
Happy birthday to Mouse_Nightshirt, Taimur, Dylan Lopez, Danny Brennan and Lalit Palaparthy!
If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is via the contact form or adding to the list here.
TedBell
25th January 2021, 0:13
I heard he almost won last place,
great comeback. He won’t be back, because Formula One is moving in another direction. Hard on the people we know little about. This sport seems to promote success and Winning. After all it is a car race. The masses know little about Kvyat. His time in F1 was at the same time that Lewis Hamilton dominated the sport. So little was expected but he leaves with all his parts. Better than some. Formula One was not his destiny.
mooa42
25th January 2021, 4:19
Reading through a June 1971 edition of Modern Motor magazine in Australia, I came across an advert for Renault, which gives the Ocon drive at Monte Carlo some context.
Apparently the Alpines scored 1st, 2nd and equal 3rd which was the first time one manufacturer had taken out the first 3 positions in the rally, and of the 257 starters only 30 finished!
I have emailed it to Keith a copy of the advert so hopefully he can post it up?
Duncan Idaho (@didaho)
25th January 2021, 5:31
Kvyat quote from after the race last year isn’t it? A chance to remember his F1 career I guess. Recovered from a rough start, torpedo & madman etc. (some Vettel hyperbole translated into a surprising post-nest-exit instinctive maternal reaction by RB that must have spun Kvyat’s head) to a quite good finish to his second stint in the game.
I guess if he had a sugared oligarch floating around, we’d already know it, but on the off chance he finds one I think he’d make a pretty good development driver/tutor-for-an-up-and-comer in a tail-end team.
Retired (@jeff1s)
25th January 2021, 6:33
I’m looking forward to a quote from Austria last year !
Social media is advertising, which I don’t like to see more here.
Jere (@jerejj)
25th January 2021, 7:46
Wouldn’t have made a difference for him regarding this year because of Tsunoda.
ColdFly (@)
25th January 2021, 8:15
97% efficiency is extremely impressive.
Just a pity they haven’t found a way to get the power and the race kinetic energy of an F1 car into a lighter battery.
To get to 1000bhp or the same total kinetic energy of F1, FE will need battery packs which alone will be heavier than an F1 car.
Thus for now 300km GP races will not suit electric cars until the batteries improve a lot or they move to slot car racing.
JeffHeinick (@jeffheinick)
25th January 2021, 8:19
Kvyat barely got a shot in the Red Bull as a very young driver. He didn’t do terrible, but had a much better talent behind him. I’m glad Red Bull put him at least in the Torro Rosso, and even brought him back after he got dumped a second time. He had an alright 2019, and while he finished one spot lower in the standings in 2020 his only retirement was the failure in Britain and overall scored points about every other race in a very bloated and competitive mid-field.
The fact is, there’s only so many seats in F1, and there’s always new untapped talent knocking on the door. It doesn’t matter if you’re a 20 year old prodigy or a still young 26 year old experienced veteran of the series….you’re expendable. Especially if your replacement on the main team wins right away, and your teammate on the secondary team wins.
It’s a cruel series sometimes, and there’s many drivers that have had the talent to compete left to the wayside. There’s no doubt that Kvyat can handle his business behind a Formula 1 car, but Red Bull is looking toward the future and anything short of him dominating Gasly this past season he was going to get the boot for a new talent. I hope the guy doesn’t dwell on “what could have beens” etc. Not many drivers…not accomplished open wheel drivers can say they’ve gotten a Formula One podium. He can take his talents to another series and have a heck of a career elsewhere, it’s not like his resume is terrible.
Dave
25th January 2021, 9:07
Re Zhou: From my calculations, he needs P5 or higher in F2 to get the required points for a Super License.
juan fanger (@juan-fanger)
26th January 2021, 1:15
He had a bit of unreliability which probably cost him one full-points victory, and the race that he did win ended up being only half points. Add these points and he would have been in the picture.
slowmo (@slowmo)
25th January 2021, 10:07
If he wanted to stay in the Red Bull family he needed to comfortably beat Gasly and in some races last year he was a long way behind. Not surprised to hear him blaming the car, it probably explains why he’ll never get to that next level as a driver. Still he has shown enough in F1 to be an asset in another racing series I think.