Daniil Kvyat has admitted that he has had to adapt his driving style to accommodate the characteristics of the Scuderia Toro Rosso STR11, which are markedly different to those he had become familiar with in the Red Bull Racing RB12.
Kvyat will spend today (Wednesday) testing the Toro Rosso at the Circuit de Catalunya, and believes the time behind the wheel will be beneficial in helping him get to grips with his new machine, as well as extracting the best out of the STR11.
Speaking to crash.net, the Russian advised he was looking forward to today’s test session. “It is not easy to say but of course the Red Bull car I was familiar with and comfortable to drive.” Kvyat said. “Toro Rosso is a car with a huge potential but has a few sharp edges and not that easy to get on top of.
“With the test I will hopefully able to do many laps and I think I can push towards a good place. Of course I had to change my driving style quite a lot which is not easy to do for a driver because for a year and a half I was using one side and now I need a different philosophy for the different car.”
Despite having to switch team’s mid-season, Kvyat does not feel it will be a handicap to his campaign, believing that once he gets to grips with the behaviour of the Toro Rosso, his performance will improve and the results will come.
“I was already quite comfortable to be honest. If we try to extract this kind of feeling every session I think we have a good pace and I think the car has quite a good potential. The tracks that are best for us are yet to come so it is all looking quite good so I am quite excited.”
Team-mate Carlos Sainz showed at the Spanish Grand Prix last weekend, that the STR11 is capable of strong results, the Spaniard finishing in a brilliant sixth place on Sunday at his home race. This sort of performance should be encouraging for Kvyat, who will know that once he is up to speed with the set-up of the Toro Rosso, the pace will also be there.
