Daniil Kvyat believes he can still be “extremely competitive” in Formula 1 as he eyes a return to the grid in 2022.
Last week, the inevitable was confirmed after the Russian was dropped by Red Bull for the second time in his career, with Yuki Tsunoda stepping into his seat at AlphaTauri.
This followed an underwhelming year in which he was largely outperformed by teammate Pierre Gasly, though did have some positive moments towards the end, including P4 at Imola.
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Still, at just 26, Kvyat isn’t giving up on coming back for what would be a third stint in F1 in the future.
“[I want a] vacation, nothing else… then we see for 2022,” he told Crash.net of his plans for next year.
“I’ll try to come back because I feel like in the right ambience with the right people around me in the right car, which I like, I can be extremely competitive. And I still feel like I have a lot to give, I am grateful of course for everything, for all these years.
“It was great, great stint, also these last two years with a team. That is fantastic and they are amazing.”
Asked if he would consider another drive with AlphaTauri or as part of the Red Bull stable despite their storied past, Kvyat says all options are on the table.
“You can never say… Life teaches you never say never to anything. But of course, I think we’ve been on-off quite a long time now,” he conceded.
“I’m open to many ideas. I don’t say no to anything right now. Next year, I think racing wise, perhaps I would like a year off. But we will see, if something really extremely good will come up, of course I’ll think about saying yes.
“Otherwise, we’ll try to focus us to come back to come back in Formula 1 in 2022.”