Daniil Kvyat says he felt “betrayed” by Red Bull when he was replaced by Max Verstappen during the 2016 Formula 1 season.
The Russian was once considered the hottest prospect in the Red Bull driver stable, replacing Sebastian Vettel at the senior team in 2015 and then beating Daniel Ricciardo over the course of that season.
At the same time, however, Verstappen was also emerging at Toro Rosso, and after a disastrous first lap at the Russian Grand Prix, Red Bull pounced at the chance to swap Kvyat with the Dutchman.
“I felt really betrayed at that moment,” he told the Track Limits podcast. “I was performing really well.
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“I just scored another podium for the team [at the 2016 Chinese Grand Prix] and then at the time, I had also a proposal to race for Ferrari to replace Kimi [Raikkonen]. That was going on behind the curtain.
“So it was a very difficult situation also for me mentally to go from being wanted by Ferrari and having seen the contract to then you go back to Toro Rosso suddenly and then you’re like, it’s not going very well suddenly.
“It was a stab in the back and that’s life, you get stabbed in the back sometimes you know, it’s normal.”
For Red Bull, the move ultimately paid off as Verstappen won his first race for the team in Spain and has since gone on to win two world titles in 2021 and 2022.
As for Kvyat, his career went into a tailspin as he struggled at Toro Rosso before being dropped for Pierre Gasly towards the end of 2017.
Daniil did return for another stint at Toro Rosso/AlphaTauri in 2019 and 2020, and now races in the World Endurance Championship and NASCAR.
“Now it’s the past,” he said of his F1 story. “I have another good career in racing so part of me of course is very thankful to Red Bull. The other part of me is still very unhappy with it.”