Daniil Kvyat will start the Austrian Grand Prix from the pit lane after his Scuderia Toro Rosso team were forced to change his chassis following his qualifying crash on Saturday.
A suspension failure on his STR11 at the penultimate corner of the Red Bull Ring saw the Russian driver spin into the end of the pit entry wall on the inside of the track before crossing the track and ending in the barriers on the outside of the final turn, with the crash breaking both of the front corners of his car and seeing Kvyat eliminated down in twentieth at the end of the session.
The decision to change the chassis means an automatic pit lane start, but it also allows the Russian the opportunity to set the car up for a possible wet race, with rain fall possible during Sunday’s race.
“Not the qualifying we wanted,” revealed Kvyat. “It’s a real pity! During Q1 I went on the outside kerb at turn 8 and the right suspension failed. The crash was unavoidable, but fortunately I’m okay.
“It’s being a tough weekend so far and we have a lot of things to analyse, but I’m sure that, with hard work, we can get on top of things by tomorrow. In the race anything can happen and we will fight hard to achieve the best possible result.”
