Daniil Kvyat back in the fold at Toro Rosso

Daniil Kvyat is a man on a quest for redemption, wanting to show Helmut Marko and Christian Horner they made the wrong decision by demoting him to Toro Rosso. It must be acknowledged that his first day behind the wheel of his new car did not help his case as he was clearly outperformed by his teammate, Carlos Sainz, with a best lap time one second slower than the Spaniard’s.

Nevertheless, the Russian considers this withdrawal normal since he was busy learning new procedures compared to those he knew until the last Grand Prix: « It was my first Friday with the team. So there were plenty of things to do and adapt to while trying to find the best compromise for tomorrow. We clearly learned a lot today and we know which direction to go in to move forward for the rest of the weekend. »

The satisfaction was evident on the other side of the garage as Carlos Sainz managed to slip into 5th position during the second session, ahead of his former teammate Max Verstappen, who has since moved to Red Bull. The Spaniard therefore believes he can have a very good Grand Prix at home: « We had a really good Friday and started my home weekend well. I’m happy with the day and I feel very comfortable in the car, but we need to work like this because it will be much tighter tomorrow than it seemed today. It looks like we could have a solid weekend here in Barcelona and I’m looking forward to it! »