Tost: Extra year at Toro Rosso “would have helped” Kvyat

The Russian driver made a breakthrough in Monaco when he delivered the best result of his career with a fourth-placed finish. Before that weekend, Kvyat was coming under pressure from his bosses to deliver after not managing to threaten team-mate Daniel Ricciardo enough. 

While Tost acknowledges that Kvyat’s graduation to Red Bull probably came a year too early, he thinks there should be no doubts he has what it takes to succeed.

Reliability hampered progress

Tost believes the biggest handicap Kvyat has faced has been being struck with a series of engine problems early on.

“Daniil is a very high-skilled driver and of course I think one or another year at Toro Rosso would have helped him to be best possible way prepared for Red Bull,” Tost told Motorsport.com.

“But as Red Bull this year is not fighting for the championship that is another topic.

“Nevertheless he is doing a reasonable job. It is not a problem of his driving style, his main problem was that he had so many technical failures he was not able to test the car because it was very unreliable. 

“Therefore he could not set-up the car in a proper way. He could not build up the confidence and then it is not so easy.

“I am convinced that if he can do enough laps, if he gets the confidence in the car and set-up and everything he will show a very good performance.”

Ricciardo similarities

Although Kvyat’s quiet demeanour is in stark contrast to Ricciardo’s bubbly personality, Tost thinks that the pair are not as different as they appear.

“They look from the outside very different but from the behaviour sitting around the table with the engineers, they are quite similar,” he explained.

“Both of them are very focused. Both of them are hard workers and, if they get a good car, a competitive car with a competitive power unit, they can win races both of them.”