As has been well documented in recent months, it has undoubtedly been a difficult year for Red Bull driver Daniil Kvyat.
The Russian started the season at Red Bull Racing where he had been since Sebastian Vettel’s decision to leave the team in favour of a move to Ferrari.
He started the season locking horns with Vettel, putting an audacious move on the former four-time F1 champion en route to a podium finish in China, before punting him off the track, not once but twice at the start of the Russian Grand Prix.
It proved to be his last race for the team as he was then unceremoniously dumped by Red Bull Racing in favour of Max Verstappen.
Kvyat dropped back into the Toro Rosso team, the team he had previously raced for in 2014.
His career began to nose dive with his confidence clearly shaken and his future on the line.
It even got to a point that during the Italian Grand Prix a rumour in the paddock began to circulate that Daniil Kvyat was set to lose his Toro Rosso drive with immediate effect to 20-year-old French driver Pierre Gasly.
Thankfully for the 22-year-old that proved to not be the case and now his future has been confirmed for next season, alongside current team-mate Carlos Sainz.
The rollercoaster year has clearly taken it’s toll on the Russian.
‘Still races to go this year but, to be honest, this year has been so long I can’t wait for it to be over.’ Kvyat told motorsport.com.
‘Yeah, it wasn’t an easy one, it turned out to be a surviving year in the end. In the beginning I had big plans, then it turned out to be a survival season.
‘Now it seems like I managed just to put myself in a position to be in Formula 1 for next year, to be with Toro Rosso, which I like.
‘But, yeah, it turned out to be a survival season, I didn’t like it and I don’t want it to happen ever again.’
2017 will be a key year for Kvyat. He still has age on his side and with an improved Toro Rosso with a stronger up-to-date power-unit, he should have the platform to impress and show the skills that gave Red Bull Racing the idea that he was once good enough to fill Sebastian Vettel’s shoes.
Kvyat happy to survive 2016
