Kvyat able to 'work in the shadows' to improve

Daniil Kvyat believes Toro Rosso's struggles in the last two races have actually been good for him in terms of keeping him out of the spotlight.

The Russian driver faces an uncertain future after being demoted from Red Bull after four races this season, with Max Verstappen taking his place. While Toro Rosso was uncompetitive in both Spa and Monza, Kvyat says the lack of pace from the team allowed him to focus on getting himself comfortable ahead of future races where there will be opportunities to show his potential.

“I mean I really needed the shutdown to be honest," Kvyat said. I think there was a lot of accumulated stress, thoughts and pressure building up. It just built up too much and I was able to empty it over the break.

“I was able to free myself from the bullshit but on the other hand it was unfortunate for the team that these two races were completely not suited to our car, but for me it was OK because I was able to work in the shadows and really focus on things for myself."

And Kvyat says he has noticed the impact of less pressure on the people around him during the last two races.

"With my engineer I can see it with him too, I look at him and he is much calmer now so it’s very nice to see. I think there’s three or four races ahead of us where we can show a better potential because the tracks should suit us better so we will try and work on that.

"But I know it’s not like the next tracks are going to be easy, we will have to work very hard, be very proactive, be very careful with the changes we make and we need to get it right. So it’s my responsibility and my engineer’s responsibility, we’re just going to go out there and have fun.”