Daniel Ricciardo believes a season away from Formula 1 could help his former teammate Daniil Kvyat “reboot” after a difficult few years in the Red Bull program.
The Russian’s career had reached a new high after he passed Sebastian Vettel at the start and went on to score what was his second career podium at the Chinese Grand Prix in 2016 at Red Bull.
A few weeks and two collisions with the Ferrari driver on Lap 1 in Sochi later, that his downward spiral began after he was demoted back to Toro Rosso in place of Max Verstappen and never really recovered looking a shell of his former self as he was outclassed by Carlos Sainz.
Though some would argue he was lucky to remain for 2017, he did but the results still didn’t really come and he was dropped altogether after the Singapore Grand Prix but for a one-off appearance in Austin.
Now officially out of the stable at the Austrian drinks giant, Ricciardo hopes Kvyat, who may still be a long shot for the Williams seat in 2018, uses the likely time away to restart his once-promising career.
“I think if Daniil misses a season, it could even do him good,” the Australian was quoted as saying. “He just needs a reboot.
“I am confident that leaving Red Bull will even do him good. He is naturally very talented, which I recognised well when we were teammates. He was often very fast.
“He’s also still very young and I think still has a chance to prove himself in F1.”
In the meantime, Kvyat raised speculation of a potential run in the NASCAR Euro Series by completing a recent test in Italy, that was later played down as just a “sensation” or fun by the series boss Jerome Galpin but one option does appear on the table.
Russian news agency Tass has reported the former GP3 champion is in contact with “at least two” Formula E teams about a spot though he would have to replace one driver with Season 4 having just begun in Hong Kong this past weekend.