Kvyat toughens up against Vettel reprimand

Daniil Kvyat made no effort to meet Sebastian Vettel even halfway  over the latter's disapproval over the Red Bull drivers' first lap overtaking maneuver.

Kvyat blew past the Ferrari on the inside of Turn 1 with Vettel claiming the move forced himself to take avoiding action which resulted in a heavy contact with team mate Kimi Raikkonen.

The incident was discussed by the two drivers in the driver's room after the race with both men defending their opinions., and Kvyat insisting that if he had a chance he would "do it again".

While the exchange was tense it remained cordial, with Kvyat holding his own, unimpressed with Vettel's arguments, as he underlined the whole affair as "all part of racing".

"In our case, if we're targeting a podium, we do have to take an amount of risk," Kvyat explained.

"When I saw the gap, it was essential for me to take that risk. In the end it paid off and we can talk for hours about it but I'm on the podium.  If I hadn't gone for that gap, who knows where I would be."

Viewed from the outside, Kvyat's initiative appeared rather well-inspired, a simple racing initiative where the risk was viewed as fair.

"It was a logical move to do, you see the gap on the inside you go for it! If he [Vettel] didn't have anyone on the outside it would have been easier for him. But he had a third car on the outside.

"I have only two eyes for two cars, so I couldn't see a third car. It was his business to deal with Kimi and he had to crash into him as well."

The 21-year-old clinched his first podium finish since Hungary in 2015, and following a solid drive in Bahrain, the Russian is slowly but surely getting into the thick of things, as well as is the pace of the RB12 chassis.

"It's been a long time since I was on a podium, it feels great and I hope there will be many more to follow.

"The car is great to drive, in terms of race pace we are always strong, and with another small step on the engine we can expect some really big things from ourselves.

"Hopefully it will come pretty soon and we can enjoy some great racing."

Rosberg cruises home ahead of chaos in China

Relive the Chinese Grand Prix lap-by-lap as it happened!

Eric Silbermann has breakfast with photographer Crispin Thruston

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter