Franz Tost hopes Daniil Kvyat is a part of his Scuderia Toro Rosso team in 2017, and feels the Russian is not far away from reclaiming the form that has deserted him in recent months.
The team principal of the Faenza-based team believes that despite Kvyat being demoted from Red Bull Racing back down to Toro Rosso following the Russian Grand Prix, the fact the Russian was not released completely shows the bosses still have high hopes for the twenty-two-year-old.
“I personally hope he will race with us because I am convinced that sooner or later he will show his real performance and he will come back with his speed,” said Tost to Autosport.
“I can understand it [the lack of confidence] because it was a big rotation coming from Red Bull back to Toro Rosso.
“But on the other side Red Bull – which is the only company in the world which has two Formula 1 teams – gave him the possibility to stay in Formula 1 and continue racing, and he should see this from the positive side. He needs a good result to get his confidence back.”
Tost believes Kyvat’s performance in Germany last time out was good, especially in the race, and felt it was only a small mistake during qualifying that cost him the chance of advancing into Q2, and believes a good result will give the Russian his confidence back.
“I must say he did a very good race [in Germany],” said Tost. “In qualifying he was a little bit unlucky in the first corner, risked a little bit too much, came off the brakes and lost three tenths. That was why he didn’t make it into Q2. But his sector two and sector three times were very, very competitive.
“I just hope that at the next races he gets everything together, and we can provide him with a competitive, fast car. Once he has a good result the confidence will come back.
“We all know Daniil can do a very good job – he won the GP3 championship, he won many races there, and he was on the podium in China [in F1 in April]. It cannot be he lost his driving abilities within a few months.”
