Crossed destinies
There seems to be a thin indestructible thread that binds the lives and sports careers of Daniil Kvyat and Max Verstappen. Separated for just three years of age – the Russian was born in ’94, the Dutch was born in 1997 – the two drivers who both grew up in the Red Bull ‘school’ have ‘crossed each other’ on several occasions inside and outside the circuits. Kvyat’s promotion to Red Bull, at the end of the 2014 season, in fact allowed the Austrian giant to free up a place in the Toro Rosso team to allow Max Verstappen to make his F1 debut while still a minor, thus avoiding that the future world champion was tempted to accept the ruthless court that Mercedes was doing to him at the time.
The turning point of 2016
In 2016, after the first four races of that championship, here is the new interweaving of destinies: Kvyat in fact was demoted by the management of Red Bull and sent back to Toro Rosso, own to make room for Hasselt’s talent which, also thanks to the Mercedes harakiri performed by Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, already won in the debut race with the new team, on the Barcelona track. That episode launched Verstappen’s career into orbit and scored at the same time the beginning of the end for Kvyat inside the Circus.
Off-track crossings
Finally, the two riders are also linked by one particular off-piste history. In fact, Verstappen has been since 2021 romantically linked to Kelly Piquet – Brazilian model, daughter of three-time world champion Nelson Piquet – with whom Kvyat had a daughter, Penelope, in 2019. During this long three-week break which followed the Australian GP also Kvyat, who is currently correct in the endurance championship with the Prema team in the LMP2 category, wanted to comment on the net domino that Verstappen is impressing on F1. The #1 has in fact won 16 of the last 22 Grands Prix held. Intervened in the podcast Track Limits the Russian, who grew up in Italy as a boy, underlined Verstappen’s undeniable qualities, while also highlighting the symbiosis that the world champion has now created with the Red Bull team.
Kvyat’s compliments
“You have to give him credit, he’s doing a fantastic job – acknowledged Kvyat – he is incredibly strong in wheel-to-wheel duels, perhaps even the strongest. But I think everyone is beatable and at the moment his team creates the perfect conditions. Red Bull is giving him everything he needs. He gets everything he wants“. Finally, the former Milton Keynes team standard bearer admitted che would have loved to be able to try to duel with Verstappen with equal means: “For me at first it was just the next person who had to come in [nel team]. For a while it seemed like that but in the end I got promoted to Red Bull. Unfortunately we never drove side by side as that would have been interesting“.
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