Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsRed Bull Racing

End of season leaves Kvyat with 'empty feeling inside'

Red Bull Racing's Daniil Kvyat is looking forward to next weekend's race in Abu Dhabi, but has mixed feelings about it being the end of the season.

"Ii’s a kind of a sad weekend in some ways, because it’s the last race of the season, which for a driver is not great," admitted the Russian, who completes his second full season in Formula One at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix next week.

"Sure, you’re mentally tired after a long season but whenever the racing stops there’s a bit of an empty feeling inside. You really miss racing. At least I do. But I’m sure I’ll find some way of having some fun in the winter."

Although Kvyat's Formula One début at the Yas Marina Circuit last year ended prematurely, it's a place he remembers well as he won here in his last weekend competing in GP3 before his call up to grand prix duty in 2014.

"It’s actually the last race that I won, so it’s a bloody long time ago!" said Kvyat, recalling that milestone GP3 event in his career which saw him clinch the series championship.

"I’d really like to change that. I miss that feeling a lot," he sighed. "Winning always feels great.

"I generally enjoy most tracks and in one way or another they all have good associations but yes, it’s particularly the case at Yas Marina because I won the GP3 championship there.

"It’s been enjoyable. It’s a good track to drive, even if it’s one of the modern ones with the big run-off areas.

It’s very technical though and it takes some time to get your head around it. Do that and you’ll get a good lap, but it’s not as easy as it looks."

He's certainly hoping to revive his good memories of Abu Dhabi and skip over least year's maiden Formula One outing.

"I had a good qualifying there last year. I was fifth on the grid I think but the race didn’t work out so well as I had to retire with an engine problem."

Kvyat would certainly like to do enough to pip his more experienced team mate Daniel Ricciardo in the standings. Kvyat currently leads by just ten points in their battle over tenth place, while Red Bull itself has sealed fourth place in the constructors battle meaning there should be no need for any team orders at Abu Dhabi to get in the way of the action.

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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.