Russian Daniil Kvyat has been handed the role of development driver with Ferrari, the Italian Formula One team confirmed on Wednesday. “Time for good news today,” the 23-year-old – who was dropped by Toro Rosso last year – wrote on Twitter after joining Charles Leclerc and Antonio Giovinazzi as Ferrari’s reserve drivers.
“Daniil Kvyat to become Scuderia Ferrari’s development driver,” Ferrari tweeted just before without specifying what they expect of the young driver. Kvyat joined the Red Bull junior programme in 2010 and made his Formula One debut in 2014 with Toro Rosso.
At the end of his debut season he was promoted to the senior Red Bull team to replace the Ferrari-bound Sebastian Vettel as Daniel Ricciardo’s team-mate. He finished second at the 2015 Hungarian Grand Prix, his best result, before claiming third at the 2016 Chinese Grand Prix.
But he crashed into Vettel during the 2016 Russian Grand Prix leading the German to brand Kvyat the “torpedo”. After the Russian race Kvyat was moved from Red Bull to their sister team Toro Rosso.
He lost his job there during the past season with Ferrari now securing him a lifeline in Formula One.
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