Daniil Kvyat isn’t too concerned despite Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko claiming he’ll be staying at Toro Rosso for 2020.
Currently, the team is evaluating who should line up alongside Max Verstappen, with Alex Albon taking over from Pierre Gasly from the Belgian GP.
Three top-six finishes since have put the Thai driver in a strong position but even before last weekend’s race in Singapore, it appeared Kvyat had already been ruled out.
“Kvyat is confirmed for next year already [at Toro Rosso], at least internally it’s clear. Then it’s between Gasly and Albon [for the Red Bull seat],” Marko told Sky Sports.
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If that is true, that marks a significant disappointment for the Russian, who has had a decent year back in F1, including the podium at Hockenheim.
However, while Red Bull is reluctant to take back the first driver they demoted three years, Kvyat himself isn’t getting downbeat.
“If he said this, that it’s like that. So… my thoughts are positive and I keep working,” he told Crash.net ahead of his home race in Sochi.
“I’ve done my work. Whatever work they give me, I do it.
“If they give me work in Toro Rosso, I’ll do my job in Toro Rosso as good as possible. If they give me a job somewhere else, I’ll try to do my job as good as possible somewhere else.
“I just do my job. Someone else’s experience also could have been in my place. I don’t know. I didn’t give it too much thought.
“I just do my job, and I don’t think too deeply about if I am experienced or not.”
It has already been confirmed ahead of this weekend’s Russian GP that Kvyat will be starting from the back of the grid at Sochi, as he takes on a new Honda engine.