Kvyat doesn't think about Red Bull demotion anymore: "I've turned the page"
- Nicolás Quarles van Ufford
Ahead of his home Grand Prix in Russia, Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat has revealed he has "turned the page" since his demotion from Aston Martin Red Bull Racing to Toro Rosso in 2016.
Kvyat had been promoted to Red Bull ahead of the 2015 season, when Sebastian Vettel left for Ferrari. A year and three podiums later, the Russian had his final race with the Bulls in Sochi. He tagged Vettel's Ferrari at the first corner and then wiped the German out just two turns later.
It proved to be a sackable offence, as Red Bull demoted him to Toro Rosso in change for the mercurial Max Verstappen, who would go on to win his first race for Red Bull a week later.
In the final stages of the 2017 season, Kvyat got dropped altogether from the Red Bull program, becoming a sim driver at Ferrari in 2018. He earned a spot back at Toro Rosso for the 2019 season, where he's performed very well, with his podium in Germany being the stand-out performance.
Quizzed about how he took the demotion back in 2016, Kvyat said that all is forgiven by now, as it was a long time ago.
"I’ve turned the page already," Kvyat said at Thursday's press conference.
"I have been through it, I have no problems with that any more.
"So, I even managed to go out and come back again to Red Bull, so I have no issues regarding that and from my side, I have full focus now on this year and on the future. So for me now it’s a closed chapter."