Max Verstappen favoured leaving Red Bull star feeling "stabbed in the back"

17 April 2023 , 08:05

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Daniil Kvyat was axed by Red Bull in favour of Max Verstappen (Image: Getty Images)

Daniil Kvyat opened up on how he felt "stabbed in the back" by Red Bull when he lost his seat to Max Verstappen.

The Russian racer had raced for the team in 2015, partnering Daniel Ricciardo. But an underwhelming start to the following campaign forced Red Bull into a decision and Kvyat was sent back to the Toro Rosso sister team after just four races.

Verstappen moved the other way and repaid that faith immediately. He secured his first Formula 1 victory on his debut for the team in the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix, taking advantage of a collision between Mercedes team-mates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg to win in Barcelona.

But while Red Bull's decision was vindicated, the man he replaced was left smarting. Kvyat told the Track Limits podcast of how he had felt betrayed in the aftermath of that decision, which dropped him back to the less competitive Toro Rosso team.

He said: "I felt really betrayed at that moment. It was a stab in the back and that's life, you get stabbed in the back sometimes you know, it's normal."

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But he went on to clarify that he is now over the pain of losing his seat and has only positive things to say about Red Bull. The Russian racer added: "Now it's the past. I have another good career in racing so part of me of course is very thankful to Red Bull. The other part of me is still very unhappy with it."

What would have made the pain worse is that Kvyat claims he turned down another huge opportunity shortly before he was axed by Red Bull. He said he had rejected an approach from Ferrari, who had spoken to him about replacing Kimi Raikkonen.

Kvyat added: "I was performing really well and I just scored another podium for the team [at the 2016 Chinese Grand Prix] and then at the time I had also a proposal to race for Ferrari to replace Kimi. That was going on behind the curtain.

"So it was a very difficult situation also for me mentally to go back from being wanted by Ferrari and having seen the contract and then you go back to Toro Rosso suddenly and then you're like, it's not going very well suddenly."

Daniel Moxon