Former F1 driver Daniil Kvyat has revealed the brutal nature in which Helmut Marko handled his career during their time working together. The Russian spent a total of five seasons with the sister team in its different guises, as well as one year with Red Bull, driving alongside Daniel Ricciardo.
After making his F1 debut with Toro Rosso in 2014, Kvyat was unexpectedly catapulted into the Red Bull team for the 2015 campaign after four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel called time on his spell with the team, opting instead to make the move to Ferrari.
Despite enjoying an initially promising start to his stint with Red Bull, Kvyat found himself under pressure at the start of his sophomore year. Following a disastrous home race in Sochi, during which he crashed into Vettel multiple times and picked up the ‘torpedo’ nickname, the Russian driver was demoted back into the Toro Rosso team with Max Verstappen replacing him.
Speaking to F1.com about his run-ins with Marko during his time in F1, Kvyat explained: “Especially at the beginning it was tough and I got a call from Helmut. He was like, ‘You know what, if you don’t improve next race, I think we’re done here’, so I was like, ‘Wow, OK’.
Click here to join our WhatsApp community to be the first to receive breaking and exclusive F1 news.
“I was under a lot of pressure already. I had to go to Hockenheim and be ahead of Carlos [Sainz], Helmut told me. I said, ‘OK, but please change the car to my liking’ because the set-up was the set-up and we just ran it.
“We did it and it worked very well, I remember I out-qualified Carlos and was ahead in the races. I think that’s what Helmut really liked about me, because he thought, ‘OK, if I can basically tell him he’s going to be fired and he can do this job, then it’s good’.”
Kvyat did find a home at Faenza after leaving Red Bull, returning to Toro Rosso for the remainder of the 2016 campaign, as well as the 2017 season. After leaving at the end of that year, he returned in 2019, spending another two seasons with the Italian squad as they rebranded to AlphaTauri.
Marko’s brutal approach has since claimed more victims within the Red Bull set-up. Pierre Gasly lasted just 12 races as Verstappen’s team-mate after making the step up in 2019, while Nyck de Vries was sacked by AlphaTauri after a mere ten races last season.
