Daniil Kvyat was a podium finisher in 2019, but his performances against his team-mates over the course of the year were less impressive. Here are all the facts and statistics from Kvyat’s 2019 season.
Daniil Kvyat scored his best championship result for Toro Rosso, finishing in thirteenth place and amassing 37 points. While Kvyat’s return to the sport after a year away had its high points, it also showed why he was let go in the first place. The Russian was regularly out-performed by his team-mate in qualifying and in races. Of Toro Rosso’s two cars, Kvyat scored 44% of their total points this season. The other car, which was shared by two drivers – one a rookie and the other a driver who had to adapt to a new car halfway through the season – scored more points.
The obvious highlight of Kvyat’s season came at the Russian Grand Prix, when he recorded Toro Rosso’s first podium finish in more than a decade. That result alone accounted for 40% of his points this year. He was unlucky in some regards in 2019: Azerbaijan, Italy and his home race in Russia are all examples of where he could have picked up points had things gone his way.
There were still signs throughout the year that Kvyat is not a fully-rounded driver, whether that was his coming together with Antonio Giovinazzi in Bahrain, his clash with the McLarens on the opening lap in China, or his last lap crash with Nico Hulkenberg in Mexico (which he picked up a post-race penalty for).
Kvyat will stay at Toro Rosso (Alpha Tauri) for 2020, but his long term future in the sport is likely to depend on how he performs against Pierre Gasly over the course of the season.
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RACE STATISTICS
- Championship Position: 13
- Total Points: 37
- % of teams’ points scored: 44%
- Points Scoring Races: 10
- Best finish: 3rd (Germany)
- Number of DNFs: 3
- Laps Led: 0
- Laps Complete: 1194 (8th)
- % of Laps Complete: 94.61%
- Distance Covered: 5999.845km
- Races gained positions in: 11
- Races lost positions in: 4
- Finished where started: 3
- Total positions gained on first laps: -13
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QUALIFYING STATISTICS
- Q3 Appearances: 4
- Q2 Exits: 10
- Q1 Exits: 7
- Best Qualifying Position: 6th (Azerbaijan)
- Worst Qualifying Position: 20th (Russia)
- Average Qualifying Position: 13.66
- Average Grid Position: 13.38
- Average Gap to own potential qualifying pace: 0.122
- Achieved own ultimate pace: 2
- Beat team-mate in how many qualifying sectors: 21 / 57
- Average gap to team-mate per sector in qualifying: +0.074
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A STATISTIC FROM EVERY GRAND PRIX
Australia: After more than a year away, Daniil Kvyat returned to F1 at the 2019 Australian Grand Prix. He scored a point with a tenth place finish – the same result as he scored on his last appearance, at the 2017 United States Grand Prix.
Bahrain: Daniil Kvyat qualified in fifteenth for a second race in a row, and for the sixth time in his career, at the 2019 Bahrain Grand Prix. At this point he had been eliminated in Q2 in exactly 50% of his F1 appearances.
China: Daniil Kvyat recorded the seventeenth retirement of his F1 career at the 2019 Chinese Grand Prix – his first since he crashed out of the 2017 Singapore Grand Prix.
Azerbaijan: After the 2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Daniil Kvyat has still never finished a race in Baku, and every Russian driver to start an F1 race at the Baku City Circuit has failed to finish. Kvyat holds the outright record of most DNFs at the track, and 2019 also marked the third DNF in four races at the circuit for the driver starting from sixth.
Spain: Daniil Kvyat equalled his best Spanish Grand Prix finishing position at the 2019 Spanish Grand Prix with ninth place. It was actually his best result at any race since he finished in ninth at the 2017 Spanish Grand Prix. The last time he had finished above ninth in a Grand Prix was in China in 2016, where he finished on the podium.
Monaco: The 2019 Monaco Grand Prix marked Daniil Kvyat’s third consecutive Q3 appearance. It was the first time he had reached Q3 in three consecutive rounds since the end of the 2015 season, when he was at Red Bull. In the race, Kvyat finished seventh, marking the first time he has finished above ninth when racing for Toro Rosso.
Canada: For the first time since the end of the 2015 season, Daniil Kvyat scored points for a third race in a row at the 2019 Canadian Grand Prix.
France: At the 2019 French Grand Prix, Daniil Kvyat recorded his first Q1 elimination since his return to the sport. His last was at the 2017 Belgian Grand Prix. He didn’t have much to fight for though – a penalty for new engine parts saw him guaranteed to start from the back row of the grid.
Austria: Daniil Kvyat fell victim to traffic on his final qualifying attempt at the 2019 Russian Grand Prix and recorded his worst qualifying performance of the season up to that point. It also saw him eliminated in Q1 at two consecutive races for the first time since 2016. The last time he was out in Q1 at consecutive events was between the 2016 German and Italian Grands Prix.
Britain: Daniil Kvyat recorded his third consecutive Q1 exit at the 2019 British Grand Prix. It was only the second time in his career that he had been eliminated in Q1 at three consecutive races. The other time it happened was at the 2016 German, Belgian and Italian Grands Prix.
Germany: With his surprise podium finish at the 2019 German Grand Prix, Daniil Kvyat recorded his first top three result since the 2016 Chinese Grand Prix. It marked Toro Rosso’s first podium since Sebastian Vettel won the 2008 Italian Grand Prix and the first time two Honda-powered cars have finished on the podium since Gerhard Berger and Ayrton Senna finished second and third for McLaren at the 1992 Portuguese Grand Prix.
Hungary: With both Daniil Kvyat and Alexander Albon eliminated in Q2, neither Toro Rosso driver appeared in Q3 at the Hungarian Grand Prix for the first time since 2012.
Belgium: Daniil Kvyat was forced to start from the back at the 2019 Belgian Grand Prix due to engine penalties. He started nineteenth, making it his third consecutive appearance at Spa that he has started from nineteenth on the grid.
Italy: After retiring with an oil leak, Daniil Kvyat recorded his second DNF at the Italian Grand Prix. It was Toro Rosso’s third retirement in four years at Monza.
Singapore: Daniil Kvyat qualified only sixteenth at the 2019 Singapore Grand Prix, marking his worst qualifying position so far at the Marina Bay Circuit. It was his fourth consecutive appearance at the track where he has been out-qualified and in the race he kept his record of having lost positions from where he started in every race in Singapore.
Russia: Daniil Kvyat finished the 2019 Russian Grand Prix in twelfth place, making it the fourth race in Russia where he finished outside the points. That equalled Marcus Ericsson’s record of four finishes outside of the points in Sochi.
Japan: With a tenth place finish at the 2019 Japanese Grand Prix, Daniil Kvyat scored for the first time at Suzuka. He also maintained his 100% finish record at the circuit.
Mexico: In 2019, Daniil Kvyat reached Q3 and out-qualified his team-mate at the Mexico Grand Prix for the first time since 2015.
United States: Daniil Kvyat gained one place from where he started in the 2019 United States Grand Prix. But unlike his 2017 appearance where he did the same thing, it wasn’t enough to see him score points.
Brazil: After starting sixteenth for the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix, Daniil Kvyat gained six positions to finish tenth. It was the second race at the track in which the Russian has gained six places and this marked the first time he has scored with Toro Rosso at Interlagos.
Abu Dhabi: Despite recording his second-worst Yas Marina qualifying attempt at the 2019 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Daniil Kvyat recorded his best finish at the circuit with ninth place.
