drunkf1fan wrote: ↑16 Aug 2019, 02:32
Sainz didn't distance himself, he got a loan but didn't beg to be released and seemingly wanted the RBR seat but trying to push out of hte program probably made them feel like he'd jump ship given the opportunity so wasn't worth investing more time in.
Kvyat didn't have any time wasted nor is he a driver despite their best efforts. Kvyat got moved up to RBR because they considered him worthy of doing so, he was plenty fast and drove well. They also got him into F1 for the same reasons. Demotion was a very painful pill to swallow but wasn't done out of malice, it was done out of seeing that Verstappen had the potential to match or maybe even beat Hamilton, Ricciardo didn't show that potential and while Kvyat had more room to improve he didn't show that level of talent either. RBR had very little choice but to promote Verstappen to keep hold of him. That's how sport goes sometimes, you can be great but someone better comes along and the team need them more than you.
For as much as I rated Kvyat's time at RBR highly and I think he did very well, after his return to TR he performed very poorly, at times miserably. He had reason to sure, but he also could have taken it on the chin and reacted better and driven great, had he done so he'd have kept his seat or maybe had the chance to move to a different team than TR. As said the demotion was tough, but these things happen, Kvyat reacting as badly as he did was while unfortunate and understandable, still his fault and it's those poor performance that led to him being replaced by Gasly/Hartley. Hartley wasn't brought up because he was better than Kvyat or they were desperate to give him a shot, it's because Kvyat was underperforming so badly at that stage that they had few other options.
kvyat is now driving very well again but had he driven like this after the demotion he'd never have left F1.
Kvyat was expelled from Red Bull under very strange circumstances. The first two races he had strange problems with the engine, he didn’t even start in the first race, and lost 2.5 seconds in qualification, 1.2 in Bahrain. The unthinkable difference for F1 pilots. In China, Marco publicly complained about Dani's podium. I’ve been watching F1 for 20 years, I don’t believe in such a loss of pace, you can accuse me of conspiracy theory, but this is not an accident. Obviously, Max for them had great marketing attractiveness and potential, and they found the reason themselves.
It is worth remembering that in the first season, Max completely lost to Ricciardo in qualifications and races, how many car he broke is difficult to calculate, while no one pressed him. But! If you recall 2015, Marco immediately began to put pressure on Kvyat.
It is also worth remembering that in 2017 in the TR, only Kvyat had so many problems with tactics, the TR constantly made terrible tactical decisions, and how many times he had technical problems. While Sainz worked with an experienced and very strong engineer Marko Matassa, Dani worked with a newcomer, because Max's former engineers were fired. Yes, Kvyat was wrong, often got into accidents, but these errors were caused by an attempt to compensate for the team’s failures. When Kvyat was not mistaken, the team was mistaken, when the team was not mistaken, Kvyat was mistaken. As Tost said, they have lost mutual trust and this is true.
Now I support Honda, Max and RB. Max may be the fastest pilot right now, he's great, he is my hero. But I am absolutely sure that Kvyat’s departure was political, not sporting. Is it possible to blame the pilot for breaking when he is specially drained? It was better honestly to say that we need Max. That would be honest and fair. I remember how in 2017 RB lied that Hartley was at the level of Kvyat, although he lost to him 1.3 s. in qualifications and very much lost in racing (I saw telemetry of each circle), to be honest sometimes it’s better to be silent than to lie constantly. RB should finally understand this.
