Verstappen and Kvyat Swap Seats for Spanish Grand Prix

[Chris]

In breaking news, Red Bull Racing have announced that Max Verstappen will take Daniil Kvyats' seat along side Daniel Ricciardo for the upcoming Spanish Grand Prix, while Kvyat will be demoted to Verstappens' Toro Rosso seat.

The announcement came via the teams' website, stating,

"Max Verstappen will be joining the team to drive alongside Daniel Ricciardo. Daniil Kvyat will continue to drive for Red Bull and will re-join sister team Scuderia Toro Rosso."
​

Christian Horner, Team Principle of Red Bull Racing also chimed in with,

"Max has proven to be an outstanding young talent. His performance at Toro Rosso has been impressive so far and we are pleased to give him the opportunity to drive for Red Bull Racing. We are in the unique position to have all four drivers across Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso under long term contracts with Red Bull, so we have the flexibility to move them between the two teams.

"Dany will be able to continue his development at Toro Rosso, in a team that he is familiar with, giving him the chance to regain his form and show his potential."
​

It is believed that this seat swap will only be for the Spanish GP, with Kvyat resuming his normal duties at Red Bull in the following rounds, however this is yet to be confirmed. This move does however give a great chance for Max Verstappen to improve his already stunning résumé, with some seat time in a truly top-tier team for a full weekend.

The move comes after a controversial home Grand Prix for the Russian driver, where he collided with Sebastian Vettel twice, resulting in the the ending of the Vettel's race along with a profanity-laced outburst, and ruining not only his own race but his team mate Ricciardo's too which significantly disadvantaged the team after promising signs in qualifying and race pace on a track that didn't suit the car. The incident was discussed after the race behind closed doors and some stern words were obviously given to the young Russian.

Update 1: Reports are now surfacing that this will indeed be a permanent fixture for the rest of the season and Kvyat will remain with Toro Rosso for the rest of the 2016 season, with Verstappen remaining in a Red Bull seat.

Are you happy about this move from Red Bull? Should the seat-swap be permanent for the rest of the season?

 

[formidable]

Of course.

 

[Aki Korhonen]

yes of course

 

[Omer Said]

I think that is quite disrespectful towards Daniil. He really performed well other than the accident at Russia. Hopefully it will give him some extra motivation to prove himself back. However, no one can deny that Max deserves this promotion, he really did great.

 

[Paul Jeffrey]

I think Kvyat was always a poor choice of driver who imho actually performed better in F1 than during his junior career to be honest.

Thing is, I just don't see him becoming a truly top tier driver in Grand Prix racing so it's wise to shift him out and get someone in with better potential long term (and in Max he's probably a better prospect short term at the moment too).

Interesting times.

Go Max!

 

[fortyfivekev]

It makes sense. They need to look after Max or contract or not he will be in a red car next season.

 

[4 8 15 16 23 42 108]

Pathetic move.

 

[Tobiman]

Saw it coming from a galaxy away. It's still kind of funny given that Kyvat did make a podium this year.

 

[RustyDriver00]

I'm all for it, spices things up a bit more which is always fun.

I was impressed with Kyvat when he was originally in Toro Rosso but I believe he has failed to impress in red bull and IMO he was very very lucky in China, if Vettel and Kimi hadn't had contact, with the way Kyvat ran wide after he got past it would have been a much bigger incident and solely his fault.

I know I'll definitely be excited for Spain now, but in saying that I seriously hope Ricciardo is able to beat Max! Aussie gotta represent!!!

 

[Piotrek Blaszczak]

Sebastian call to Christian and say: "Please do something with your driver , he hits me twice." and Christian say "For you I do everything possible but please back for us ..... " .

 

[jonelsorel]

As someone else also chimed in, what a truly pathetic move on RedBull's side. How many times did Vettel put opponents in the wall or hit even his own teammate? Or even outperformed by his own teammate, Ricciardo, for the whole of last year? Schumacher syndrome alert: it's ok when you do it, but hell breaks loose if someone does it to you. Horner is still "horny" for Seb it seems, even if he's driving for Ferrari now.

How is it that every time something happens involving a german that drives for Ferrari, the double standard pokes its ugly head? Had Vettel been driving for Force India, would RedBull have immediately considered replacing their driver?

There were silly moments of politics intertwined into the race, unfortunately, confirming once again that sport is never too far from it. Russian driver hits German driver; Hamilton instantly greets Russian president Vladimir Putin in the "refreshments" room (normal respectful gesture, him being head of the host state), who is there personally to congratulate the drivers after the race, while Rosberg, entering the room through the same door right after Hamilton, fails to acknowledge Putin's presence for a good minute. Then this:

"Lauda, a three-time World Champion, praised the Ferrari driver's composure (?!) after the incident but did add that the young Red Bull driver was completely out of order: "If I were Vettel, I would kill him."

http://www.planetf1.com/news/lauda-slams-kvyat/

 

[Jeff]

Great news for Max, not so much for Daniil.

I am Dutch and a big Verstappen fan so i might be a little biased but im sure VES will do a better job in that red bull then KVY. My guess is that RIC will leave to ferrari next season. KVY and SAI now have to fight to figure wich of them joins VES at RB and Gasly will debute at TR.

 

[Matej Lakota]

Max is my favorite driver of the moment and he will be also in the future, I like his way of racing and also his father was one of my favorites back in 90`s, but honestly, for a moment I was sure this news is some sort of late April 1st joke. I didn t beleve it, so I also checked some other sites if it is really true. Good for Max, but I can not imagine, how Daniil is feeling right now. I am sorry for him, he didn t deserve such a degradation.

 

[Luca Antinori]

Risky move for Verstappen, at least to wait to the end of the year at Toro Rosso should have been better. I have no idea what's going on at Red Bull behind the curtains to make such a rash decision. Nevertheless, I am very curious to see how Verstappen will fare against Ricciardo, a real top driver.

 

[Jeff]

Risky move for Verstappen, at least to wait to the end of the year at Toro Rosso should have been better. I have no idea what's going on at Red Bull behind the curtains to make such a rash decision. Nevertheless, I am very curious to see how Verstappen will fare against Ricciardo, a real top driver.

Well risky moves are kind off his trademark

 

[Chris]

I suspect there's more going on than just Kvyat making a mistake and getting dropped. It's been known for some time now that Jos Verstappen has been pressuring RBR very hard behind the scenes to get Max into a Red Bull seat, else they'll take their talents elsewhere *cough* Ferrari *cough*.

 

[LoxIslay]

At the start of the new season I wondered why RB kept 2 less talented drivers in their team and the two Young Stars at TR. The Championship was out of reach before the start of the season, and to bring Verstappen and Sainz into the RB's would be the right step. Both of them are ready for the better car, and have more talent and higher chance than both Riccardo and Kvyat together...

 

[Jeff]

At the start of the new season I wondered why RB kept 2 less talented drivers in their team and the two Young Stars at TR. The Championship was out of reach before the start of the season, and to bring Verstappen and Sainz into the RB's would be the right step. Both of them are ready for the better car, and have more talent and higher chance than both Riccardo and Kvyat together...

i have no doubt they are both ready but i do think you are underestimating Ricciardo here. I am very curious how Max will hold up against a true quality driver like Ricciardo.

 

[jonelsorel]

Risky move for Verstappen, at least to wait to the end of the year at Toro Rosso should have been better. I have no idea what's going on at Red Bull behind the curtains to make such a rash decision. Nevertheless, I am very curious to see how Verstappen will fare against Ricciardo, a real top driver.

This was not a move intended primarily to promote Verstappen, but to punish Kvyat for hindering/bumping Vettel, F1's new spoiled brat following religiously in Schumacher's footsteps, for 2 races in a row. The moment when it happened confirms that. If Red Bull wanted Verstappen for the main team they would've taken him some time ago.

 

[Jimlaad43]

As someone else also chimed in, what a truly pathetic move on RedBull's side. How many times did Vettel put opponents in the wall or hit even his own teammate? Or even outperformed by his own teammate, Ricciardo, for the whole of last year?

Replacing a driver who's just scored you 4 World Championships because of half a season of bad races would be an utterly terrible idea. Red Bull wanted to keep Vettel as long as possible because he helped make the team great.