“You can be a good driver, but if you don’t put the car and tyres in that window, you will lack half a second. It’s normal, and that’s also one of the things that I had to learn how to deal with in my first years in F1. It’s a very interesting process, but if you get lost in it, it can really ruin your chances, and with Checo [Perez] – I don’t know, I didn’t drive that car, so I can’t tell you for sure.”
With Red Bull having struggled to find a second driver to match Verstappen in recent times – Liam Lawson having been dropped from the team after two races this season to be replaced by Yuki Tsunoda, who could only finish 10th at Imola after a huge Qualifying crash – Kvyat gave his view on the situation at his former squad, and whether benching Lawson had been the right move.
“It’s tough, they are the team, they know what’s best for them,” Kvyat said. “But of course, they have one part of the team [in Verstappen] that looks like they are perfect, they work really well. But then the other part is slightly… everything seems to be a little bit messier.
“I don’t know, I can’t tell the details, without being a part of the team for sure. What I know is, it is a fast car when you make it work – and why they can’t make it work is another question.”
