Door not closed on Kvyat at Red Bull - Horner

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Red Bull team principal Christian Horner insists Daniil Kvyat could still return from Toro Rosso in the future.

Kvyat was demoted following a run of poor form - albeit punctuated by a podium in China - which included two collisions with Sebastian Vettel on the opening lap in Russia. With Max Verstappen promoted to Red Bull, Horner admits the swap is hard on the young Russian driver but says it does not end his hopes of returning to the team.

"I think it’s a harsh decision," Horner said. "I think feeling sorry for Danny… on one hand you can say ‘hang on, he isn’t driving a Red Bull car’ but he’s still in a competitive car in Formula One.

"I think he takes some solace in the fact that any other driver that hasn’t succeeded in Toro Rosso or Red Bull Racing hasn’t been retained. Formula One costs Red Bull tens of millions of pounds a year across the two teams - if we didn’t believe in him as a talent he wouldn’t have been retained.

"I think putting him into Toro Rosso will enable him to recover his confidence, his form, and of course be evaluated from there."

Asked if that means the door hasn't closed on Kvyat driving for Red Bull again in future, Horner replied: "I think as we’ve demonstrated here, anything’s possible.

"The contracts that they have permit the team to move drivers across those seats."

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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.