Formula 1: Daniil Kvyat ‘confirmed’ for 2020, says Helmut Marko

Red Bull Racing team manager Helmut Marko has confirmed that Daniil Kvyat is set to remain within the organization in the 2020 Formula 1 season.

After spending the 2014 Formula 1 season driving for Scuderia Toro Rosso, effectively the Red Bull Racing junior team, Daniil Kvyat was promoted to Red Bull Racing for the 2015 season.

But after just the fourth race of the 2016 season, he was promoted back to Toro Rosso and replaced by 18-year-old Max Verstappen, who has since become the youngest winner in Formula 1 history and collected a total of seven Grand Prix victories driving for the Milton Keynes-based team.

After finishing out the 2016 season at Toro Rosso, Kvyat remained with the team in the 2017 season. But before the season ended, he was replaced by Pierre Gasly, who retained his seat for the 2018 season, leaving Kvyat without a ride for the first time since he arrived in Formula 1.

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But with Gasly set to replace the Renault-bound Daniel Ricciardo at Red Bull Racing in the 2019 season, Kvyat returned to Toro Rosso in the 2019 season, and his comeback season has been quite impressive.

Throughout the 21-race season’s first 16 races, he sits in a 12th place tie in the driver standings with seven top 10 finishes, including the lone podium finish recorded by a non-Mercedes, Ferrari or Red Bull Racing driver since Force India’s (now Racing Point’s) Sergio Perez finished in third in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in April of 2018. Kvyat finished in third in the German Grand Prix back in late July.

There were rumors that Kvyat would replace the struggling Gasly at Red Bull Racing during the 2019 season, but Toro Rosso rookie Alexander Albon ended up being the driver who swapped seats with the 23-year-old Frenchman.

Nevertheless, Kvyat has done more than enough this season to warrant a stay with Toro Rosso, or perhaps even a promotion back to Red Bull Racing, next year.

No deal has been confirmed publicly, but Red Bull Racing team manager Helmut Marko has confirmed that the 25-year-old Russian is set to be back within the organization next year.

Here is what Marko had to say about the matter, according to Formula 1.

"“Kvyat is confirmed for next year already, at least internally it’s clear.”"

Kvyat is believed to be returning to Toro Rosso next season, as Marko added the following.

"“Then it’s between Gasly and Albon [for the second Red Bull seat].”"

The second seat at Red Bull Racing is the seat alongside Max Verstappen, who signed a three-year contract with the team back in October of 2017. There were rumors that he may look to get out of that contract after the 2019 season due to a performance clause contained in it, but he has since been confirmed by the team for next year, as this clause expired.

But despite Marko’s claim about the second seat at Red Bull Racing, team principal Christian Horner believes that there is still a chance that Kvyat will be called back up to the team to partner Verstappen, and given how things have gone for the team this season, there is every reason to believe that this is still very much a possibility.

Here is what Horner had to say.

"“[The seat] is [Albon’s] to lose in many respects. All three [Albon, Kvyat and Gasly] are under consideration for next year. We don’t need to rush any decisions – all the drivers are RBR drivers and at the right time we’ll make the choice for the future.”"

Regardless of what is truly still under consideration, it does appear that Daniil Kvyat is slated to back with the Red Bull Racing organization on some level as a full-time driver in the 2020 Formula 1 season, as he should be.