Following their coming together at the start of the 2016 Russian Grand Prix, Daniil Kvyat phoned Sebastian Vettel in an attempt to resolve the matter. Afterwards the Russian appeared confident that the agitation between himself and the German had been taken care of.
Speaking to motorsport.com, the Red Bull Racing driver believed he had spoken to everyone necessary and had been honest in his discussions.
“I’ve told everything that I had to the people that I needed to talk to. Called the people I needed to call. And we discussed everything.
“I think now people will take joy in talking about this. Let them talk. I know I’ve made a mistake, I will learn from it.
“The consequences for the mistake are that the team didn’t score the points it could have. But I think this will be left behind and this incident is over. We’ve discussed it already. It’s only human to make mistakes like these.”
However, the Russian’s own team are not believed to be happy with the driver, after he not only ruined his own race in the accident, but that of his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo too. Following Kvyat’s first touch with Vettel at Turn 2, the Ferrari careered into the side of the Red Bull of the Australian, causing damage to the side of the RB12 that could not be rectified during the pit stops. Ricciardo was left racing with an injured car for the duration of the race.
Red Bull Motorsport Boss Helmut Marko, was particularly unimpressed with the Russian’s actions. Speaking to motorsport.com the Austrian advised that he was not happy with what had occurred during the race.
“Let’s put it this way: Kvyat was over-motivated. Braking too late once and hitting another car would be acceptable in front of his home crowd, but this doesn’t apply for the second crash.
“It’s a pity because he did not only ruin Vettel’s race and [Daniel] Ricciardo’s race, but also his own race. He had to do an extra stop. It was a day of disaster for Red Bull.”
Marko also confirmed that he felt Vettel was well within his rights to be angry on this occasion, giving his full backing to the German, whilst shunning his own driver. Also confirming that after everything had died down, talks would take place with Kvyat to discuss the situation, following Vettel’s advice to Team Principal Christian Horner, to talk to his driver.
“Let’s cool down a bit. During the week we will talk about this. Yes, I said one word to him. The rest still has to be said.”
The incident between Kvyat and Vettel during the Russian Grand Prix comes just one round after the two crossed swords during the Chinese Grand Prix. On that occasion, Kvyat could not really be blamed for Vettel crashing into his Scuderia Ferrari team-mate, despite the German’s outbursts to the contrary, this time however he does have some cause to be aggrieved. Has the situation now been resolved between the two drivers, or will the rumble in Russia continue when we head to the European leg of the F1 calendar?
More importantly, with Red Bull academy driver Max Verstappen going from strength to strength with sister team Toro Rosso, is the Russian’s Red Bull seat for 2017 now seriously under threat?
