Daniil Kvyat was born inUfa, Bashkortostan, Russia, on 26 April 1994 to Vyacheslav and Zulfiya Kvyat. Kvyat lived in Ufa until 2000 when his family moved toMoscow. This is where he first raced go-karts before first moving toWestern Europe and racing competitively.[1]
Kvyat resides in Monaco. In addition to his native Russian, he is also fluent in Italian, Spanish, and English, and has some ability in speaking Finnish and Dutch.[2][3]
Rules introduced for the2014 Formula One World Championship allowed the drivers to pick their own racing numbers that they will carry with them for the rest of their careers. When asked about which number he wanted, Kvyat revealed that 26 was the number he had chosen as he had no previous connection to it, and that he wanted to make it successful.[4]
Until November 2015, Kvyat was one of the few drivers in motor racing to have anFIA Super Licence, but not a regular driving licence in his native Russia.[8]
In January 2017, Kvyat began datingKelly Piquet, daughter of three-time F1 World ChampionNelson Piquet. The couple's first child, a daughter, was born in July 2019.[9] The pair split in December 2019.[10]
In January 2005, Kvyat made his professional debut in motorsports winning his first race in Sochi. During the 2005 and 2006 seasons, Kvyat participated in local events, including the Russian karting championship and cup as well as in the occasional races in Italy. Consistently demonstrating strong performances, he later moved to Italy to fully concentrate on racing in one of the most competitive environments. Kvyat's first professional team in Italy was Franco Pellegrini's crew.
During the winter of 2007, Kvyat's family moved to Italy to support his commitment demonstrated by his strong results. The young driver's parents stayed with him alternately, and he started education in Italian school, continuing to race in local tournaments. Before the start of the 2008 season, Kvyat, who had already proved himself in the Italian karting scene, signed a contract with the Zanardi factory team, led by well-known manager Dino Chiesa. Kvyat moved to the KF3 junior category and became a participant of the prestigious World Series Karting series. However, the Russian driver and Zanardi's partnership did not result in any success. He achieved European Championship qualification but Kvyat switched teams just before the championships started, to join privateers from Morsicani Racing, who used an FA Kart chassis. In their first race, the new partnership produced an excellent result: Kvyat, who had tested the new kart of the new team just a couple of days before the start of the championship, not only made it to the finals but was fighting for the win.
Kvyat and Morsicani Racing won several prestigious competitions, including WSK rounds and the Bridgestone Cup. The Russian defeated his Zanardi ex-teammate,Nyck de Vries, who was now a protégé of the McLaren Formula 1 team. Kvyat also won theTrofeo delle Industrie, in the final heat of which Kvyat finished ahead ofAntonio Giovinazzi and Rafaele Marchiello, future members of theFerrari Academy.
Kvyat's European winning streak continued at the beginning of the 2009 season. The Morsicani Racing driver won the prestigious Winter Cup in the KF3 category and then added more victories to his name in the WSK rounds in Sarno and Le-Castellet. His victory in the Winter Cup was especially outstanding because he made it to the top of the podium after starting from the last position on the grid, where Kvyat found himself as a result of a clutch failure in qualifying. Kvyat first made his way into the final heat and then, starting from third, he won that race, overtaking Carlos Sainz Jr. along the way. Kvyat became one of the leaders in the WSK series, and began to draw the attention of sponsors. In the spring, he got backing from the Russian Lukoil company. However, the young driver was also noticed by Red Bull. During the summer, Kvyat participated in his first testing session in an open-wheel car, arranged by Red Bull alongsideCarlos Sainz Jr, another candidate for the Red Bull Junior Team. Both drivers made a strong impression and signed contracts with the Austrian company.
Kvyat continued to race successfully in karting, taking the bronze at the 2009 European Championship one more time but was unable to reach the finals of the World Cup in Sarno. During the qualifying session slot, chosen for Kvyat by the team, it started to rain and his lap time was not fast enough in comparison with the times posted by drivers on the dry track. Improving his situation during the qualifying heats was barely possible, primarily because the team had decided to place their bets on their second driver, Italian Guliano Maria Niceta. Kvyat decided to part ways with Angelo Morsicani's team after the World Cup and joined the Intrepid factory team. He raced for Intrepid in the last two races of the WSK season, winning the final one. It was the last win of his career in karting as the Red Bull Junior Team bosses decided to progress Kvyat to the next level, straight into the cockpit of the Formula BMW car for the 2010 season.
Before the start of the European season, Kvyat travelled to Malaysia with the Eurointernational team, which prepared cars for both the Red Bull juniors, to race in theFormula BMW Asian Championship, where he won his first race. However, his first races back in Europe were not very successful. Sainz, who had more tests under the belt before his debut in open-wheelers, was the first to deliver a result. However, by mid-season, Kvyat had improved his results. In Germany, he qualified in the front row for the first time and after that he finished every race in the points, including the final round in Monza, where he finished in second place, making it to the podium for the first time during his debut European season. Two weeks later, Kvyat won a race in the Asian Championships in Singapore, a positive ending to his campaign in Formula BMW. The Bavarian company had earlier announced the closing of their open-wheel programme by the end of the 2010 season, so Kvyat could not continue to compete in the series.
Before the start of the 2011 season in Europe, Kvyat went for a pre-season boot camp in New Zealand to race in the Toyota Racing Series. He raced in four rounds for the Victory Motor Racing team, finishing fifth in the championship with a win in the Dan Higgins Trophy atManfeild and another five podiums.[11]
For 2012, Kvyat remained in the Formula Renault category, competing in bothFormula Renault 2.0 Alps and theEurocup Formula Renault 2.0 series. His debut in the Alps championship was marked with a dominating double win atMonza.[12] In May he returned to the Eurocup, and recorded a double win in the opening round of the season atMotorland Aragón.[13] In the Eurocup, Kvyat's main rival wasStoffel Vandoorne, who won four racesversus Kvyat's six but he also never finished a single race below fourth. Kvyat lost points at Nürburgring due to a wrong tyre choice by his team, and at Hungaroring after crashing with Oliver Rowland. The fate of the title was decided in the last round of the championship in Barcelona. Koiranen GP made a wrong call in the mixed conditions and selected wet tyres for Kvyat although the circuit was drying up after the rain; most of the other drivers on the grid started on slick tires. Thus, having lost several positions in the last part of the race, Kvyat did not score enough points to secure the title. In the Alps series, Kvyat was fightingNorman Nato. Barcelona hosted the series finale just a couple of hours after the finish of the Eurocup race. Two title contenders crashed out and, having more overall points in the championship, Kvyat won the title. Russian driver remained with theRed Bull Junior Team and progressed to theGP3 Series for 2013.[citation needed]
Kvyat spent 2013 competing in theGP3 Series withMWArden and theEuropean Formula 3 championship withCarlin Motorsport. Kvyat was a late registration for the latter series, and so he was ineligible for points. He scored five pole positions, seven podiums and a dominant win atZandvoort. His first win saw an unusual mistake on the part of event organisers: there was no record ofNational Anthem of Russia present at Zandvoort, and"The Patriotic Song" byMikhail Glinka was played instead to celebrate Kvyat's win.[14] After this race, he was offered a contract as a Formula 1 driver byHelmut Marko, head of the Red Bull Junior Team.[citation needed]
Carlos Sainz Jr. joined Kvyat as a teammate once again in GP3, after a mediocre season in Formula 3. The season start was a challenge for both drivers: struggling to find appropriate settings for the cars, both Kvyat and Sainz failed in the season opener. They managed to catch up with the leaders after a few rounds, once the Arden engineers mastered management of the Pirelli tyres. Kvyat scored his first podium in the series at Hungaroring in July, then won the race in Spa in August to decrease the points deficit between him and the leaders in the drivers' standings. He went into theAbu Dhabi event being a title contender and finally won the championship in his debut year. His performance in two final feature races atMonza and Abu Dhabi was notable: Kvyat scored a pole, a win, led every lap and recorded the fastest lap, gaining the maximum points available at both races.[citation needed]
Kvyat was promoted toRed Bull for the2015 season, to replace the quadruple world championSebastian Vettel, who would move toFerrari.[20] He took his first podium in the sport with a second place finish at the2015 Hungarian Grand Prix, the highest finish for a Russian driver in Formula One.[21] As a result, Kvyat – aged 21 years, 91 days – became the second-youngest driver to record a podium finish, after Vettel.[21] In qualifying for the2015 Japanese Grand Prix, Kvyat crashed heavily into the barriers, ultimately flipping the car.[22] He was uninjured, and finished thirteenth in the race the following day. Kvyat ended the 2015 season with 95 points and seventh place in Drivers' World Championship, beating his race winning teammateDaniel Ricciardo by three points.[23]
The 2016 season start was a challenge again, but Kvyat finished third in thethird round, securing the first podium for Red Bull Racing in the new season. However, after an incident during the start of his home Grand Prix when Kvyat collided withSebastian Vettel's car, team management decided to demote Kvyat back to Toro Rosso.[citation needed]
In the week following theRussian Grand Prix,Red Bull announced thatToro Rosso driverMax Verstappen would be replacing Kvyat beginning from the following round, theSpanish Grand Prix, with Kvyat returning to Toro Rosso alongsideCarlos Sainz Jr. According to Red Bull's team principalChristian Horner, "Dany will be able to continue his development at Toro Rosso, in a team that he is familiar with, giving him the chance to regain his form and show his potential."[24] Kvyat spent some time adapting to the team and the new car, and returned to good shape, posting several strong performances in qualifying and races. It was announced ahead of theUnited States Grand Prix that Kvyat had been re-signed to Toro Rosso for 2017 after much intense speculation.[25]
Although the opening phase of the championship looked promising, with both thecar and the drivers demonstrating solid speed, regularly making it into the top ten, Kvyat's season was plagued by multiple problems, including several retirements due to technical failures and occasional driver's mistakes. On 26 September 2017,Toro Rosso announced the decision to replace Kvyat for the forthcomingMalaysian Grand Prix with FrenchmanPierre Gasly, following a sustained run of underwhelming form from the Russian. Whilst confirming the decision to stand Kvyat down, in a statement, Toro Rosso added that the driver switch should not be considered a permanent parting of the ways, saying "This is not a case of goodbye for our Daniil, as he still remains part of the Red Bull Family."[26] Kvyat returned to racing for Toro Rosso at theUnited States Grand Prix, following teammateCarlos Sainz Jr.'s move toRenault, and Gasly attending the2017 Super Formula Championship finale atSuzuka. Despite securing a points finish it was not enough to secure his seat once more as Toro Rosso chose to continue with New ZealanderBrendon Hartley and welcome the return of Gasly to complete the team's pair in preparation forMexico.[27] In the week between the United States and Mexican Grands Prix, it was confirmed byHelmut Marko that Kvyat would not return to the team and would be released out of the Red Bull driver development programme.[citation needed]
On the day of the Mexican Grand Prix, Williams technical directorPaddy Lowe said thatWilliams were considering him as an option for the2018 season.[28]
After failing to attract a race seat for the 2018 season, Kvyat became a development driver forFerrari.[29] While mainly focusing on the team's simulator at Maranello, Kvyat drove theFerrari SF71H for the first time at Fiorano, during a Pirelli wet weather test in April 2018.[30]
Second return to Toro Rosso / AlphaTauri (2019–2020)
Kvyat rejoined Toro Rosso as a driver for the 2019 season, replacing the Red Bull-boundPierre Gasly. This saw Kvyat race for the team he debuted in Formula One for a third time in his career.[31] He initially raced alongside Thai driverAlexander Albon, who moved up from theFIA Formula 2 Championship.[32] Kvyat put in strong performances during the first half of the season, achieving six points finishes from twelve races. However, he suffered consecutive retirements inChina andAzerbaijan, both as a result of collision damage. His points finishes included seventh place inMonaco, a ninth place inBritain after starting from the back row of the grid and a shock third place podium finish at the rain-affectedGerman Grand Prix. This came after a strategy call to pit for dry-weather tyres before the rest of the field and an overtake onLance Stroll. This marked Kvyat's third career podium, and Toro Rosso's first podium since winning the2008 Italian Grand Prix.[33]
During the summer break prior to theBelgian Grand Prix, Kvyat's teammate Albon was promoted to Red Bull in August to replace Pierre Gasly, who was demoted back to Toro Rosso. Some questioned the decision not to promote Kvyat instead, as he had outperformed Albon during the first half of the season. Red Bull justified the move by saying they wished to trial Albon for the remainder of the season to decide who would partner Max Verstappen at the team in 2020.[34] Kvyat produced an excellent drive in Belgium to finish in seventh place after starting in nineteenth due to power unit penalties. His third retirement of the season came at the next race inItaly after suffering an oil leak. Kvyat recorded three more points finishes in the remainder of the season; two tenth place finishes inJapan andBrazil, and a ninth place finish inAbu Dhabi. He also finished in the points inMexico and theUnited States, but was handed post-race penalties for causing last-lap collisions in both races, dropping him out of the points. Kvyat finished the season in thirteenth place in the championship with 37 points.[citation needed]
The Russian finished the season 14th in the standings with 32 points, compared to team-mate Pierre Gasly who scored 75 points and finished tenth.[38] His contract was not renewed andYuki Tsunoda replaced Kvyat at AlphaTauri for2021.[39]
In 2025, Kvyat was chosen byDS PenskeFormula E Team to take part in theJeddah ePrix rookie free practice session. He finished the session in fifth place.[56] He returned with the team to partake in the Berlin rookie test alongsideNikita Bedrin.[57]