German GP was 'two steps forward' for Kvyat

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Daniil Kvyat says he felt like he took "two steps forward" with his German Grand Prix performance despite failing to score points.

The Toro Rosso driver had a tough qualifying session, dropping out in Q1 and cutting a dejected figure as he admitted he had made a number of mistakes and felt his tough period was "never ending". However, after being visited by Red Bull team principal Christian Horner on the grid, Kvyat delivered a solid drive to finish 15th, directly behind team-mate Carlos Sainz.

Having moved forward in the race, Kvyat says the performance and feeling in the car was much more important than the final result.

"I felt that many people who know me saw I was not myself these last few weeks, also Christian," Kvyat said. "But I don’t need anyone to be sorry for me or anything but I think everyone has these points in life. For sure, [qualifying] was a low point. But already [in the race] I felt like I took not one but two steps forward."

Asked if he did anything between qualifying and the race to pick himself up after being so downbeat on Saturday, Kvyat replied: "Nothing special, just went to the car and did my job, really not thinking about too much or over-analysing.

"Just did my usual job, just drove on my instincts and it paid off quite well. I think that’s how we continue that approach for now, it’s been working good and it should be much better from the second half of the season."

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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.