Russian has "no expectations" but thinks car looks "promising"; says he doesn't need Daniel Ricciardo's help to settle in at new team; adds that Max Verstappen's bid to take record as F1's youngest point-scorer is "not really my business"
Monday 16 March 2015 14:14, UK
Daniil Kvyat says he has “no expectations” ahead of his Red Bull debut at the Australian GP although he thinks his new team's latest car “looks promising”.
The 20-year-old Russian was speaking in the Melbourne paddock on Thursday, almost 12 months after becoming the youngest driver to score points on his F1 debut.
"No expectations," said Kvyat, who sounds particularly focused ahead of the new season. “Just try to do my best and try to take the best out of myself and the package that we have. That’s the best thing you can do; expectations…they don’t really help.”
Red Bull are shaping up in the chasing pack behind Mercedes. Precisely where will start to be revealed this weekend, although Kvyat said he was happy with progress in pre-season testing.
“If you look at 2014 it was like a paradise. I think we did our best; we squeezed everything out of our programmes through the winter and we are where we are now,” he said.
“You always want to have something more but you cannot have everything at the same time. You have to adapt to what you have, and what we have now is looking promising.”
Regarding Red Bull’s place in the competitive order, he added: “We all hope it’s as high as possible, but we don’t know until the first qualifying or first race.
“This weekend will open a lot of things for us; we know more or less where we are but it’s too early yet to make any conclusions.”
Team-mate Daniel Ricciardo finished second on his own Red Bull debut 12 months ago, but was later disqualified for a fuel flow infringement.
The Australian went on to have a stellar season, winning three times and beating Sebastian Vettel, who Kvyat has replaced.
Asked whether he could emulate Ricciardo, Kvyat said: “It all depends on the circumstances. You just do your best and see how you adapt.
“It’s hard just to say, ‘It’s going to happen tomorrow’ or ‘It’s going to happen in one month’. You just have to be realistic.”
Kvyat also said that he didn’t need Ricciardo’s help to settle in at his new team. “Everyone is focused on their own thing, I think, and in Formula 1 you can’t count on someone to help you,” he said. “I count on myself and that’s it.”
His own replacement at Toro Rosso, Max Verstappen, could take the record for youngest points scorer provided the 17-year-old finishes in the top ten on Sunday.
So what does Kvyat think about that? “I have no idea. Once again, it’s something that’s not really my business. It will not really help me.”
But it seems that no man is an island after all. “I hope that he will do his best,” Kvyat added.
