The qualifying session in Japan was brought to an early conclusion when Daniil Kvyat crashed his Infiniti Red Bull Racing machine at high speed at the hairpin, with two wheels being ripped off the car due to the force of the crash.
Kvyat admitted it was a driving error that caused the crash, which will mean the young Russian will start from the pit lane for Sunday’s race, with the team being forced to rebuild his car around a new chassis.
Kvyat admitted he was disappointed to crash, in which he rolled inside a racing car for the first time in his career, and knows he will have to drive well on Sunday to get a good result.
“I’ve never rolled a racing car before and they say there’s a first time for everything,” said Kvyat. “I’m feeling more disappointment than pain.
“I put two wheels on the grass and there was not much run off area at that point so it put me straight into the wall. I was pushing hard after a messy FP3 and this is the consequence of going over the limit.
“The car looks really bad and I’m sorry for the guys who have already had a tough couple of weeks and now they have even more work to do.
“Where would I have finished? I don’t know, but it should have been looking better than P10, because the car felt good in the fast sections, even though we lack the speed in a straight line. Tomorrow, we will try our best as usual.”
