Red Bull had already made the decision to swap Daniil Kvyat and Max Verstappen before the Russian Grand Prix, according to Sebastian Vettel.
Kvyat hit Vettel twice at the start of the race in Sochi, taking the Ferrari driver out at Turn 3. Vettel was seen talking to Red Bull team principal Christian Horner on the pit wall during the race, but the four-time world champion does not believe the incident was the cause of the decision to change the driver line-up.
"I don’t think it has anything to do with what happened in Sochi as I learned it had been decided beforehand," Vettel said. "It’s good news for one, it’s not so good news for the other.
"You can say Red Bull is the stronger team with more manpower and resources. If you look at the raw performance, probably not too dissimilar or not that different between the two teams.
"It’s a great chance for Max, not a nice call for Daniil but you should ask the people who are responsible and involved."
And Vettel says he has respect for Kvyat due to the Russian driver's reaction to the incident in Sochi.
"The last race is not the best example for Daniil. Unlike some of his colleagues, he had the balls to give me a call in the afternoon and tell me what happened from his point of view. He realised he had done a mistake and for me that is the end of the story.
"Of course I was very upset in the first place, disappointed because it ruined my race, but these things happen. There is no guarantee I won’t have a misjudgement on Sunday, in two weeks, in a year, in five years if I am still around. Mistakes happen. Of course mistakes happen. This is why we are here, we are all pushing to the limit. I don’t think there is anything wrong with that.
"Whether now it’s a better line-up for them, for sure it’s bad news for Daniil and good news for Max. But generally, I think very highly of Daniil. His natural speed, his raw speed is very very high. Maybe the current formula doesn’t suit him as well as others but in terms of talent and raw speed, he deserves to be in F1."
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