Daniil Kvyat has suggested his drive to third at the German Grand Prix was a “message” to Red Bull bosses.
In a year when Pierre Gasly has struggled to consistently challenge, the Russian needed just one chance to capitalise and give junior team Toro Rosso only their second-ever Formula 1 podium.
“It was hard work to reach this moment and hopefully I can send the message out there that I’m ready now to fight for this kind of moment on a consistent basis, and there is no stronger message than a podium like this,” he said post-race.
Kvyat isn’t a stranger to the F1 podium having scored two in his short stint with Red Bull, including the 2016 Chinese Grand Prix which was just two races before he was dropped.
That demotion caused a tail-spin in his career, but now the 25-year-old, who also became a father on Saturday, believes he is back on an upward plane.
“It was an incredible few years in my life,” he stated.
“A lot of realisations in my life because it was sometimes tough times and I thought maybe Formula 1 was over for me and especially [scoring a] podium, but life just proves that if you work hard and never give up, things are possible and I think that’s exactly what happened today.
“All these three difficult years, just felt like they crashed from my shoulders finally. I lost these chains today.”
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Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko didn’t wait around to quickly quash any suggestions of Kvyat moving back to the senior team, however.
“This year we will not change anything, we will finish the season with the same line-ups that we have now,” he was quoted by PlanetF1.
“Kvyat has always been an excellent driver in the rain. Before the start of the race, I told him that it was his weather – and he carried out his task to the maximum.”