German Grand Prix – Daniil Kvyat celebrated becoming a father for the first time by taking his first podium finish since the 2016 Chinese Grand Prix.
Toro Rosso were one of the beneficiaries of a chaotic German Grand Prix after Kvyat – who started the race from fourteenth on the grid – took advantage of a well-timed strategy call to complete the podium at the Hockenheimring.
The Russian was one of the first drivers to move onto the soft-compound tyres in the final third of the race, a call which brought him up into third place behind Max Verstappen and Lance Stroll.
With the threat of Valtteri Bottas and a recovering Sebastian Vettel, Kvyat moved forward and overtook Stroll for second place to give himself every chance of maintaining a podium position.
The safety car came out when Bottas crashed out of the race, but Kvyat maintained second place at the restart and only lost out to the faster Ferrari car of Sebastian Vettel.
He kept hold of the podium place for the final couple of laps to complete a memorable weekend, and revealed in the post-race interviews that just one day before the race, his partner Kelly Piquet had given birth to their first child.
“It was an amazing race.” he beamed afterwards. “It feels a little surreal at the moment and all feels a little unreal for me.”
“It’s 11 years since the last Toro Rosso podium from Sebastian [Vettel] in Monza. It’s an amazing day, i am so happy.”
“Thanks to everyone on the team. It was incredible. It doesn’t feel like any another podium to be honest. It’s my first podium in such a long time and it was different this time. I was ready, I was more ready than ever to fight for these kind of positions. This year i am more mature and my head is cooler. I am more ready to fight on top. Today i proved it to myself and everyone else around. I hope soon this will become a habit!”
“It was a horror movie with a bit of black comedy, and at one point I thought the race was done for me, but it came alive again. It’s a great moment in my career.
When post-race interviewer Martin Brundle suggested that it was perfect timing with Kvyat expecting a child, he confirmed: “Yeah, she was born last night!”
The result is Toro Rosso’s first podium finish since Sebastian Vettel took his first Formula 1 victory back at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix.
To view the full results of the race, click here.
