The Red Bull have decided to demote Daniil Kvyat and replace him with sister team Toro Rosso's Max Verstappen as their driver for the remainder of the season. Kvyat will be racing for Toro Rosso, starting Spanish Grand Prix.
Kvyat might have even finished in the podium in China, but the decision might have been largely prompted after the Russian Grand Prix fiasco, where Kvyat crashed into the Ferrari car, and also apologised for it.
Red Bull team principal Christian Honer lauded Verstappen as an outstanding talent the team is pleased with the Dutchman in Red Bull's cockpit.
"Max has proven to be an outstanding young talent. His performance at Toro Rosso has been impressive so far and we are pleased to give him the opportunity to drive for Red Bull Racing. We are in the unique position to have all four drivers across Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso under long term contracts with Red Bull, so we have the flexibility to move them between the two teams," F1 official website quoted Honer as saying.
Kvyat finished in seventh (Bahrain), third (China) and fifteenth (Russia) for Red Bull this season, but the driver will have to focus on Toro Rosso for the rest of the season, and will have Carlos Sainz as his team mate.
However, one man's loss is another's gain as Verstappen considers driving for Red Bull as an amazing opportunity.
"The next step in my relatively short career so far is an amazing opportunity. I really want to thank Red Bull Racing and Dr Helmut Marko for the confidence they have in me. I'll have the chance to learn a lot from the top team that is Red Bull Racing," he told his official website.
With the talented youngster, who made his debut last season, being promoted to a team like Red Bull, he will be under pressure to perform and deliver. Verstappen was decent in his Toro Rosso car during the ongoing season, but he will be aiming for better things with Red Bull. The Dutch driver will be keen to learn from Daniel Ricciardo, who is a quality F1 driver, his Red Bull team mate.
"I'm also looking forward to work with an experienced and proven team mate like Daniel Ricciardo," Verstappen said.
