Daniil Kyvat found Daniel Ricciardo’s personality to be a “bit too much” for him

Daniil Kyvat, who was teammates with Daniel Ricciardo in 2015, thinks the Australian is a nice guy - but for Kyvat, his personality was a "bit too much".

Daniil Kyvat found Daniel Ricciardo’s personality to be a “bit too much” for him

Daniil Kyvat (L) | Daniel Ricciardo (R)

Daniil Kyvat and Daniel Ricciardo were teammates for a season (and four races) back in the mid-2010s. Now, both find themselves out of the Formula 1 grid. Their situations are a lot different but similar. Both were ousted for performance-related reasons. For both, a Formula 1 return looks unlikely, though this is less of a problem for Ricciardo. This is because he’s still involved in the sport as a third driver, and was once considered one of the best drivers on the grid.

Unfortunately for Kyvat, this is not the case for him and two seasons have passed since he last raced in F1. Being teammates, there was certainly some rivalry between them. At least in 2015, it was the Russian driver who came out on top. But then, four races into the 2016 season, he found himself demoted in favor of Max Verstappen. This, in hindsight, was a fantastic decision, but clearly, a bitter pill to swallow for Kyvat.

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The Russian driver considers Ricciardo to be one of his toughest foes. And coming into the team, after Ricciardo had just beaten Sebastian Vettel (in 2014, by quite a margin as well), there was a lot of pressure on Kyvat as well. But what about his personal thoughts on Ricciardo? Kyvat also admitted that Ricciardo’s personality, which has made him so popular with fans, was a bit too much for him.

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Speaking on the ‘Track Limits‘ podcast, he said: “My impression of him was he was the man at the time, very funny personality so very attractive for media – bit too much for me – but no, we got along well,” Indeed, Ricciardo’s personality is very popular in the media and with fans – which is part of why Red Bull have brought him back to the team. Of course, now he’s in a different role, likely to be more utilized for media, fan engagement, and showruns.

Read More: Red Bull ‘stabbed me in the back’ with Max Verstappen betrayal, claims Daniil Kvyat

Daniil Kyvat: Daniel Ricciardo a ‘nice guy’ despite ‘too much’ personality

Daniel Ricciardo (L) and Daniil Kyvat (R)
Daniel Ricciardo (L) and Daniil Kyvat (R)

As mentioned before, Daniil Kyvat actually beat Daniel Ricciardo in 2015, albeit by 3 points. Naturally, everybody wants to beat the teammate. After all, the first person that you’re matched up against in Formula 1, and all motorsport, is your teammate. It was no different for this particular pairing. Explaining their relationship, the Russian driver continued: “But there was a lot of rivalry between us, of course.”

He continued, describing that both used to stay late in the motorhome: “The beginning was like he was taking things easy, then when he saw that, okay, I have pace, then [he] started also to stay in [the] motorhome until midnight like me and we were both there sitting, [the] engineers were gone already and we were still there studying the data seeing who would go home later.”

Despite this ‘rivalry’, he rates Ricciardo’s abilities very highly: “But no, I rate him very good. I think those cars, they suited him up perfectly also at the time, had good understanding of tires. Those tires were a bit different, they were very fragile. He’s been a very strong rival, I think, pushing me to the limit.” All in all, he concluded: “An impression? Yeah, a lot of jokes. Sometimes, when we travel in the car for a long time, [hosts chip in ‘”Oh man, too much!” and laugh] but he’s a nice, nice guy.”

Both still look to make a Formula 1 return. Kyvat is five years younger, but most would rate Ricciardo’s chances better – though not particularly highly either. It’ll be interesting to see if either of them can make a return to the grid in 2024 (or beyond). Once you leave (or are forced out of) F1 in the manner that they did, it’s very hard to come back.

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