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Daniil Kvyat (P11): 7/10
While several of their rivals really struggled in Mexico's high altitude, Toro Rosso seemed to really benefit from the conditions and both Daniil Kvyat and his team mate had encouraging outings this week. Both were in the top ten in Friday's practice sessions, and while Kvyat slipped to 11th in FP3 he was still more than able to make it into Q3 in qualifying and finish ahead of Pierre Gasly as the pair secured fifth row starting positions for the race. Unfortunately that success came at a cost, forcing them to start on the soft compound which pretty soon started to lose grip at a dramatic rate. After losing eighth place to Sergio Perez on lap 10, Kvyat was one of the first drivers to make a scheduled pit stop and change to the hard compound, and as a result dropped almost all the way to the back. But as the rest of the field made their stops in turn, Kvyat rose back up the order and was back in the points again by lap 20. The second stop left him running the final laps in tenth, until he thought he spied an opportunity to pass Nico Hulkenberg at the final corner of the last lap. Unfortunately it ended up spinning the Renault into the wall in the attempt, earning him a ten second post-race penalty. "I'm quite upset with the penalty," he said after being stripped of his two championship points: "I disagree with it because we are told we are allowed to race. Nico was defending and I was attacking, and these things happen."
