Daniil Kvyat marked his first Formula 1 race start in 18 months with a point, having emerged on top of a race-long battle with Pierre Gasly at the Australian Grand Prix.
Kvyat started from 15th but worked his way forward to emerge in contention for the top 10, keeping Gasly behind through the first stint of the race.
AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX: Race result | Championship standings
A challenge on ninth-placed Lance Stroll left Kvyat skating through the gravel but he regrouped and quickly re-passed Gasly, who had emerged in front from the pit lane on cold tyres.
The closely-contested train of midfield drivers retained their positions through to the chequered flag, with Kvyat capping the top 10, edging Gasly by four-tenths of a second.
“It wasn’t an easy one, one of the most difficult points earned I would say, but very satisfying at the same time because we kept a quicker car behind us the whole race,” he said.
“It’s very encouraging for us as a team. We were catching a lot the teams ahead of us too. I tried to overtake, it proved to be very difficult here, but they [the team] said try.
“I wouldn’t have been happy with myself if I wouldn’t [try].
“I think there’s many positives from this race. Obviously, it’s always ifs and so on, but I felt I left a lot on the table in qualifying, so it’s good to analyse that.
“Those one and a half or two-tenths can prove very costly on Saturday, as we saw, so we need to work on that a bit too, and take this away from the weekend as a lesson, work on it in the next events. Racing, I think we looked very strong.”
Kvyat added that the ability to resist Gasly throughout the 58-lap race demonstrates the inherent pace of Toro Rosso’s STR14.
“He was quicker, especially on the red [Soft] tyres,” he said.
“When he went out of the box, he tried to make a move, and when I overtook him and saw he was on reds, I thought he might get back at me. I just had to close the door a couple of laps and he was in my dirty air.
“I was always able to have those 5-10 metres of breathing space every lap.
“It was important not to make any mistake on my side because he had a big pace advantage. I managed to keep him behind.
“It gives great confidence to the whole team that we can keep this kind of car behind us. From Lap 1, he was on my tail, and on Lap 58, he was still behind me. It was very good.”
