Alpine has announced that former Red Bull-backed Daniil Kvyat will be the team’s reserve driver for the 2021 season.
Daniil Kvyat has been snapped up by Alpine for 2021. The Russian driver was left without a drive at the end of 2020 as Alpha Tauri replaced him with Formula 2 racer Yuki Tsunoda.
Kvyat, who was part of the Red Bull camp and had driven for the Red Bull Racing team in 2015, was demoted back to Toro Rosso in early 2016 in favour of Max Verstappen. Kvyat was then dropped at the end of 2017, but was brought back in 2019 after a year on the sidelines.
“I am very excited to join the Alpine F1 Team,” said Kvyat. “The team has achieved some great results in the past year and is very technologically advanced.”
“Development has been strong, and I am aiming to contribute to this positive trend. I will try to bring my experience on and off track to help develop the A521 and future cars as well.”
“As a reserve driver, you need to keep sharp and I look forward to integrating into the team in several different areas.”
“We have a strong addition to the team in the person of Daniil Kvyat,” said Alpine’s CEO Laurent Rossi.
“In this year of the pandemic it was important for us to have a strong back-up,” he added.
“He’s already scored three podiums. We’re very happy to have someone who is able to step up if the need arise and score the points, put the car where it should be at the end of the line.”