Daniil Kvyat reckons the tough 2015 season endured by the Red Bull Racing squad will boost the togetherness of the team ahead of his second year with the Milton Keynes-based outfit.
The Russian driver and team-mate Daniel Ricciardo had high hopes entering 2015 but secured only three podium finishes between them as the team struggled with an uncompetitive and unreliable Renault power unit.
“When I first came to Red Bull, expectations were high – from the team, from myself and other people – for the results that we would achieve together,” said Kvyat to Autosport.
“Obviously it was a very big test of patience this year, for all of us as a group, with the beginning a bit of a shock for all of us. We were in a difficult situation.
“Then we started to climb and to improve ourselves, but there were many ups and downs. We would score some good points at one event, then at the next event we’d score zero. That was a bit disappointing.
“Obviously in your second year in Formula 1 you want to believe it’s going to be great, but sometimes you have to leave your expectations behind and focus on your work, and that’s what I did.”
Kvyat reckons the toughness of 2015 can only be positive heading into the new season, even though the partnership between Red Bull and Renault remains for another season, albeit with Tag-Heuer-badging.
“I hope there are a lot more positive emotions ahead of us because there weren’t too many last year, even though there were a couple of really great races and my first podium,” said Kvyat.
“All in all there were not as many positive emotions as we would like to have had. But we need these kind of tough seasons in our lives. I think we grew stronger as a group. Every person in our group will be stronger.”
