Webber: Kvyat has “a mountain to climb”

Webber, who endured his own issues with Red Bull thanks to his tumultuous relationship with former teammate Sebastian Vettel when the two raced for RBR, says that it will be difficult for Kvyat to recover from being shunted back to Toro Rosso in favour of Max Verstappen.

If he's going to do it, Webber says Kvyat's first job is to comfortable out-perform Toro Rosso teammate Carlos Sainz.

“I think he has a really difficult task to find a really solid platform within Toro Rosso; not because Toro Rosso is a bad team, but it's difficult to do something exceptional in Toro Rosso,” Webber told Motorsport.com.

“It doesn't happen that often, because you have maybe one or two races where something can really… you have your day like Sebastian in Monza when he won there.

"But normally you see a bad pitstop also strategy or something. Toro Rosso is not Red Bull or Mercedes. They are still team which can make errors as well.

“So I think that [Kvyat] has a mountain to climb. He has to outperform Carlos comfortably, which won't be easy either. That's his biggest job.”

Right decision

Politics aside, the decision to move Verstappen into the main RBR squad has been a good one from a sporting perspective according to Webber.

“Well, we know that sometimes they're not the most patient with the driver to progress and make progress. They actually have all four [drivers] on contract. We know that they can move them within the teams,” said Webber.

“But, at the end of the day the change has worked. Is there some politics in the background? I've no idea, but in the end Max is definitely is a red-hot talent and a big excitement for the future. 

“And now its up to young Kvyat to really prove himself at Toro Rosso again if he can do that. But so far, the decision has really worked for Max to change.”

Interview by Oleg Karpov

Don’t miss our European GP video preview…