Daniil Kvyat has described his Toro Rosso as ‘undriveable’ after the Russian was hit at the rear by Renault’s Jolyon Palmer during last weekend’s rain-hit Brazilian Grand Prix.
Starting from 14th on the grid, Kvyat was amongst the first cars to pit for a set of intermediate tyres before picking up a puncture during the Safety Car period triggered by Marcus Ericsson’s crash.
At the subsequent restart, Palmer rammed into the back of the Toro Rosso driver, who could nonetheless continue while the Renault racer had to retire with suspension damage.
“My race had everything,” Kvyat said. “The start was good. We went on inters at the right time but then I had a puncture under the Safety Car so I pitted. Palmer then crashed into me at the restart big time and the car was finished.
“We stayed out because it was raining but in the dry we would not have even gone out. In the wet we thought that we might try our luck but the car was undriveable.”
Despite the incident, Kvyat managed to take advantage of the treacherous conditions to recover momentarily to the points-paying positions but eventually tumbled back down to 13th after the final restart.
When asked whether he could have emulated team-mate Carlos Sainz’s strong sixth-place finish without the hit, the Russian replied: “I think better to be honest. My pace was very good on inters, I was confident. But everything went wrong in this race, just like my whole season really.”
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