Kvyat on Red Bull’s ‘betrayal’: “It was a stab in the back” 

Red Bull took a ruthless decision to demote Kvyat just four races into the 2016 season in a seat swap with Toro Rosso’s then 18-year-old Verstappen. 

Kvyat finished on the podium in China but a calamitous home race in Russia - in which he crashed into Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel twice in two corners on his way to 15th - cost the Russian his drive just a year after he had been given the Red Bull seat. 

Verstappen famously went on to win on his Red Bull debut and become F1’s youngest-ever grand prix victor, while Kvyat remained at the sister team for another three seasons before being replaced by Yuki Tsunoda. 

Speaking about his Red Bull demotion on the Track Limits podcast, Kvyat said: “I felt really betrayed at that moment. It was a stab in the back and that’s life, you get stabbed in the back sometimes you know, it’s normal.

“Now it’s the past. I have another good career in racing so part of me of course is very thankful to Red Bull. The other part of me is still very unhappy with it.”

Kvyat also claimed that he had rejected a proposal from Ferrari to replace Kimi Raikkonen early in 2016.

“I was performing really well,” he explained “And I just scored another podium for the team [at the 2016 Chinese Grand Prix] and then at the time I had also a proposal to race for Ferrari to replace Kimi. That was going on behind the curtain.

“So it was a very difficult situation also for me mentally to go back from being wanted by Ferrari and having seen the contract and then you go back to Toro Rosso suddenly and then you’re like, it’s not going very well suddenly.”

Kvyat will join Lamborghini for their World Endurance Championship and IMSA SportsCar Championship assault in 2024 after switching to an Italian racing licence.