Daniil Kvy was a young star “Formula 1”, and now he has become the main loser. What's happened?

On September 26, the Formula-1 team “Toro Rosso” announced that the Frenchman Pierre Gasley replaced the next two races of the Russian Daniil Kvate in its composition. Temporary replacement during the season is the rare incident for Formula 1, especially since it is connected in this case not with the injury, but with the sports form of the double. Racing removal is the result of the misfortunes of the Russian, which began a year and a half ago with his transfer to Toro Rosso from the more successful Red Bull team. Now everyone is dissatisfied with Kvyatu: the team, partner, fans-and it is possible that next year the racer in Formula 1 will not be. Medusa recalls how the career of the most successful Russian pilot went downhill.

At first everything was fine

The son of a businessman and a former deputy of the Bashkir parliament Daniil Kvyt in childhood went a path traditional for young racers: he started with a picture, chased first in Moscow, and then in Europe, he was seen by sponsors, and in 2010, when he was 16, he concluded a contract with the Red Bull youth project. By that time, the corporation producing energy drinks has already seriously and for a long time came to the car racing and put on the stream the production of future pilots for two of its formula-1 teams, taking care of them from an early age. Kvyts was relatively successfully chasing several younger racing series (in particular, he rival a lot with his future Formula-1 partner Karl Sayns-Jr.)-and in the end, when a vacancy for the 2014 season appeared in the Toro Rosso team, it was the Russian that was chosen on it.

So, after the departure of Vitaly Petrov and the annual break in the main racing series of the world, the Russian pilot reappeared. In his first race, he set a record, becoming the youngest rider who scored glasses in Formula 1. On his debut Grand Prix in Australia, the quotes took 9th place; At that moment he was 19 years old and 324 days. The previous owner of the same record was Sebastian Vettel, by the time of the Debut of Kvat, which became a four -time world champion.

Kvyt was not a superstar. But he gave hopes

The Russian spent his first season at Toro Rosso quite sensible - especially considering that he was a debutant in the team of the second echelon. He regularly fought for glasses and often scored them; He did not lose too much a much more experienced partner; drove as fast as the car allowed; He was distinguished by stability and did not reside. In the 2014 Formula-1 season, not only the Kvyt himself debuted, but also the Grand Prix in Sochi, and this added attention to the only Russian in Peloton.

In general, there was a lot of noise around the kilos - and in any case he did not give a reason to doubt its validity. At the end of the season, Red Bull announced that from next year the Kvyat would chase the main team of the concern. The team, which until recently was the absolute leader of the championship and won several titles in a row: on such fast cars, the Russians in Formula 1 have not yet traveled (Renault time Vitaly Petrov was still more likely among the catching up).

Kvyt became the second and most successful Russian racer in the history of Formula 1

In the Red Bull, the Kvyu was not the easiest period for the team. Their main star - Sebastian Vettel - moved to Ferrari (just a Russian replaced him). The team did not adapt too well to the new technical regulations, and their cars were noticeably lagging behind the Mercedes that completely dominated the championship. Nevertheless: it was still a top command, and the season spent in it became the brightest in the quota career. He almost always scored glasses, and in the crazy Grand Prix of Hungary, he took second place at all, having broken the record set by Petrov for Russian pilots (this result was largely due to the fact that the riders, who were second and third, collided several circles before the finish line, but this happens in Formula 1).

According to the results of the championship, the Kvyt took seventh place in the overall standings, ahead of even a partner on Red Bull, an ultra -talent Australian Daniel Rickyardo, who had already won several races by that time, and a year before he was furnished with four -time Vettel champion. It seemed a little more - and the Russian racer would begin to win the races himself.

And then he was unclenched

Kvyut broke the Vettel record for youth; Kvyut changed Vettel in Red Bull-and Kvat's career went downhill too because of Vettel. The 2016 season began as normal: at the Grand Prix of China, the Russian rose again to the podium, coming to the finish line third. Then they had a dialogue with Vettel, thanks to which the Kvyu received his new racing nickname: the Ferrari pilot accused the Russian of too dangerous behavior at the start, saying that he "flew out like a torpedo."

The Kvyut joked, and this would probably end - if two weeks later in Sochi the story did not repeat with much more disastrous consequences. Kvyut at the start twice hit Vettel, spoiling the race to himself and the opponent. The Ferrari pilot was forced to get off the highway; He cursed, indignant and demanded retribution. And it unexpectedly followed: shortly after the race, the leadership of Red Bull announced that the quotes from the next race would again travel for the younger team of the concern - Toro Rosso.

Since both teams belong to the same owner, Red Bull had absolute right to such a maneuver - however, you can’t call him commonplace. During the season of pilots, Formula 1 is changed extremely rarely (in the end, cars here are built taking into account the specific features of specific people) and, as a rule, in extraordinary circumstances. The Kvyut, of course, was to blame for the incident in Sochi, but such stories in races occur regularly and never entail such consequences. Even Vettel perplexedly stated that he did not expect such a turn of events.

Max Fertappen, Dutchman, replaced the Kvyta in Red Bull, who shortly before that broke the Kvate record, becoming the new youngest racer who gained glasses. Two weeks later, Fertappen won his debut race for Red Bull. Kvyt came to the finish line tenth.

And everything became bad

Apparently, the reverse transition to Toro Rosso himself was most shocked strongly. In the remaining seventeen races of the season, he scored only four points, lost to a new partner-his old opponent Carlos Saynsu, a lot, was mistaken or simply piloted extremely inexpressively. The long break between seasons did not help - in 2017 the situation did not fundamentally changed, except that all other factors were still added by constant bad luck with the machine, the strategic flaws of the team and the conflict with the partner; At the Grand Prix of Great Britain, Kvyt and Sins even collided, and in the press they constantly exchanged cobbles.

By mid -2017, the nickname "Russian torpedo" had turned from a joking into almost offensive - now the Kvate has developed a reputation as an unstable and unstable rider who is risky when overtaking and makes many mistakes. The apotheosis of the season was the incident in the Grand Prix of Singapore in mid-September: the Kvyt first overtook the slow opponent in the struggle for tenth place, and then literally in the next turn-in an even place crashed into the wall.

After that, the patience of the Russian employers seems to have expired.

And it will be even worse

After a difficult intrigue with the transition of Sinns Jr. from Toro Rosso to Renault (this, of course, is an increase in the classroom: in the same Singapore, the Spaniard finished the fourth) that, with all the failures of the Kvyt place in the team, nothing threatens anything: the next year Toro Rosso would have to travel with a new motor and change in such circumstances of both pilots Shortly, and two of the graduates of the Youth Program of the Red Bull, ready for "Formula 1", simply do not.

And yet. On September 26, Toro Rosso announced that in the next two Grand Prix-in Malaysia and Japan-he will be replaced by the Frenchman Pierre Gasley in the car. He had long been waiting for his chance in Formula 1 and, most likely, would get a place in the team in 2018, but such a decision of the team is an event no less extraordinary than lowering the double in the classroom, and, of course, a serious signal for the Russian: employers seem to agree with public opinion.

Apparently, he did not accept his next decrease in the chips. Immediately two leaders of his team told the press that the Rosso decision was shocked and reacted to him “ aggressively ”. Kvyut himself did not publicly comment on the incident.

The option in which the Kvyat will not be in Toro Rosso in the next season, until it is still visible-but the team sends a distinct signal to the Russian. The racer will be able to answer him already at the US Grand Prix when he returned to his car-and this is the case when it makes sense for him to be able to personally.

Alexander Gorbachev