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Red Bull Replace Daniil Kvyat with Max Verstappen Ahead of Spanish F1 Grand Prix
Red Bull have confirmed that Daniil Kvyat has been dropped to Toro Rosso and will be replaced by Max Verstappen ahead of May 15's Spanish Grand Prix.
The decision comes following Russian Kvyat's calamitous performance at his home Grand Prix on Sunday, during which he crashed into Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel twice in two corners, and team principal Christian Horner explained the decision to promote Verstappen from Toro Rosso, per Red Bull Racing:
Max has proven to be an outstanding young talent. His performance at Toro Rosso has been impressive so far and we are pleased to give him the opportunity to drive for Red Bull Racing.
We are in the unique position to have all four drivers across Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso under long term contracts with Red Bull, so we have the flexibility to move them between the two teams.
Dany will be able to continue his development at Toro Rosso, in a team that he is familiar with, giving him the chance to regain his form and show his potential.
Red Bull Replace Daniil Kvyat with Max Verstappen Ahead of Spanish F1 Grand Prix | Bleacher Report
This is a surprise but even though I am stoked for my fellow Dutchman to be promoted to a bigger and better team, I seriously feel for Kyvat as I think he is being punished way too harshly for his mistakes in the Russian Grand Prix when he crashed into Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel not once but twice, eliminating him from the race but also destroying the hopes of himself (due to damage, extra pit stops, 10 second stop and go penalty and points on his F1 super license), his team mate Ricciardo (who also suffered damage from Kyvat's double crash with Vettel) but also sister team driver Carlos Sainz as part of the wing from one of the Red Bull wings flew into his side pot making his engine overheat causing an extra pitstop that threw Sainz out of points contention too.
But even so, I think it was too small of a mistake to warrant his demotion from the first team. But this may have been an excuse from the team for other issues. He has been performing poorly during qualifying, only qualifying faster than his team mate once, and that was due to his team mate driving around with a puncture.
What is great for Red Bull is that this will attract more commercial interest into the team, potentially having an 18 year old on the podium would be a great thing for Red Bull from an attracting new money to the team. Plus it may help Ricciardo and the team getting more points and getting the second or third spot in the drivers ranking.