Kvyat hoping 'everything clicks' in time for Shanghai

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Returning to Shanghai for this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix comes with a mix of emotions for Toro Rosso driver Daniil Kvyat.

On the one hand he can look back to his third place finish in 2016 with Red Bull, which was the Russian driver's most recent podium finish.

"I have good memories of China, especially in 2016, when I went from sixth on the grid to stand on the podium in third place.

Kvyat hopes new approach will pay dividends on the track

"It’s an interesting track with a good mix of some slow and medium speed corners and that very long straight. Get it right and it’s a satisfying track to drive.

"There are some tricky sections, including the hairpin which - after the very long straight and hard braking - is challenging. As are the first two turns, they are extremely long corners."

But following his success in China three years ago, things unraveled for Kvyat in the very next race in Russia, after which he was abruptly dropped by Red Bull in favour of Max Verstappen.

Although Kvyat continued to race for Toro Rosso, the knock-back seemed to affect his confidence. He was finally dropped altogether midway through the following season - only to make a comeback at the start of this year following a successful spell as Ferrari's simulator driver at Maranello.

Kvyat is determined to make the most of his second chance in F1, and has been working hard alongside rookie team mate Alexander Albon. But despite scoring a point in the season opener at Melbourne, he is still to rediscover the sort of form that previously established him as one of the sport's fastest rising stars.

"Not everything clicked together a hundred percent in Bahrain," the 24-year-old admitted when asked about his start to the season. "I didn’t get to do all the laps I wanted, so that didn’t help with the way the track evolves in Bahrain.

"We didn’t get the best out of qualifying and the race itself was a little bit scrappy," he added. "However, on a positive note, my actual pace looked competitive, which is encouraging looking ahead to China.

"In China, we must work hard to get a good setup so that everything works at its best. If we do that, I believe we can have a really good weekend."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.