On Monday, 21st October 2013, the Formula 1 team of Toro Rosso surprised the auto racing world with the announcement that it has contracted Daniil Kvyat for the 2014 season as one of their drivers. Contracting Kvyat is particularly surprising because of his age, as he is only 19 years old. After Vitaly Petrov, he is the second Russian who drives in Formula 1.
Kvyat’s racing career
Danill Kvyat was born on April 26, 1994 in Ufa, Russia and started his racing career by driving karts, just like many other successful drivers in various racing categories. When he was 15 years old, he started formula racing and joined the EuroInternational team. 2010 was an interesting year for the young driver, because he also became part of the Red Bull Junior Team and made his debut in the European Formula BMW.
In 2011, Daniil Kvyat competed in the Toyota Racing Series with the Victory Motor Racing team. He won one racing and had five podium finishes. He claimed the fifth place in the Toyota Racing Series Championship. Kvyat also drove a full season Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup and he finished in the Northern European Cup second after teammate Carlos Sainz Jr, while he claimed the third spot in the Eurocup, after again Carlos Sainz and Dutch driver Robin Frijns, who won the championship.
A year later, the young Russian driver competed in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 series and Formula Renault 2.0 Alps. He won the latter series and finished as runner-up in the Eurocup.
GP3 Racing and Formula 3
In 2013, Danill Kvyat progressed to GP3 racing and European Formula 3. In GP3 he races for the MW Arden team, while he joined the Carlin Motorsport team Formula 3 team as a guest driver. Because of the late registration of Kvyat in Formula 3, he was not eligible for points. However, he still managed to get five pole positions, seven podium finishes and a win at the Zandvoort racing circuit in The Netherlands.
For the MW Arden team in GP3, the Russian driver scored two wins, one pole position and three fastest laps.
In the 2014 season, Daniil Kvyat wil race for the Scuderia Toro Rosso Formula One team, where Jean-Eric Vergne from France will be his teammate.
