Daniil Kvyat may face suspension

F1 News: DANIIL Kvyat has moved to within three points of an F1 race ban after being found at fault for another first-lap accident at the British GP — this time with Toro Rosso teammate Carlos Sainz.

A week after having two points placed on his licence for hitting Fernando Alonso at the first corner in Austria, Kvyat was handed two more points after Silverstone stewards found him at fault for colliding with Sainz.

That takes Kvyat up to nine points for the last 12-month period, the most in the field, and just three away from triggering an automatic one-race suspension.

He will remain with at least nine points on his licence until the day after the United States GP on October 23, when the two points he received in Austin last year will be wiped.

Kvyat gets 2 penalty points on his super licence. Now up to 9 in total and 12 brings a ban. #SkyF1 #F1 #BritishGP pic.twitter.com/hifXbLA2tY

— William Esler (@WilliamEsler) July 16, 2017

The Toro Rossos were battling for position at the start but Kvyat ran wide before rejoining the track, making contact with the sister Toro Rosso as he looked to find a way past.

Both STR12’s spun off the road with Kevin Magnussen also sustaining damage on his Haas, but while Sainz was forced to retire, Kvyat was able to continue — albeit at the back of the field.

The collision caused an early Safety Car, but unsurprisingly both young drivers blamed each other. Kvyat was handed a drive-through penalty for “rejoining the track unsafely” and eventually finished a lapped 15th.

“It’s very clear on the cameras what happened, we were both battling for position and giving each other space and then one car loses control and collides with another,” Sainz told Sky F1.

“Not good for the team — but it’s a discussion and analysis that needs to stay between us. When there are situations out of control it’s not like I’m going to be tense about it, I’m relaxed. We need to keep our head up.”

Sky F1’s Pat Symonds, formerly Williams’ chief technical officer, said of the crash: “I think the incident itself is inexcusable but the penalty bemused me, because rejoining the track — Kvyat was a passenger.

“Carlos is a guy with a great future in front of him, Daniil — I’m not so sure. He’s not a rookie, he should be driving better than that.”

The incident is yet another black mark on the 23-year-old’s record. He was demoted by Red Bull early last year after a series of mishaps as the energy drink team’s motorsport adviser Dr Helmut Marko accused him of “overdriving” the car.

He hit rock bottom with a careless manouevre at the 2016 Russian Grand Prix when he hit Sebastian Vettel twice and ruined Daniel Ricciardo’s race.
But Kvyat said this latest debacle was “unavoidable”.

“The racing driver knows when he sees what happens to me that you’re never going to be on the perfect line for Turn 12. So when you put yourself there, you know the collision is 90 per cent unavoidable.

“I believe had the other car been anticipating it, it would have been trying to get me back on the next straight. But it didn’t happen. You just put yourself there and say to your teammate, ‘OK, you just crash into me.’”

Kvyat was also filthy with how harsh is penalty was.

“The punishment was for leaving the track and rejoining unsafely, but I didn’t leave the track, me and the team agreed on that,” he said.

“I was narrowly within track limits, we believe the penalty was too harsh for what really happened.

“A drive-through is extremely strong. I saw stronger incidents and they punish five or 10 seconds in the pitstop.

“I don’t understand this, and it doesn’t feel very nice. It makes everything look worse than it really was.
“I’m not very happy, I was completely upset when I received the news about the penalty.
“I believe this is racing, not ballet dancing — exactly what I said on the radio.”

There’s no love lost between the Russian and Sainz as Kvyat said he has sympathy only for the team, not for his comrade.

“I think when he pushed me off the track in the first four races, nobody told him anything. I believe he should keep his distance from me on lap one in general. That’s best for the team. I feel more, not for Carlos at all, but for the team it was a shame,” Kvyat said.

“(The relationship with Carlos) has never been fantastic. I don’t expect anything to change so we just carry on.”

Category: Formula One