Toro Rosso racer Daniil Kvyat says he hopes to achieve the “perfect weekend” at his home event in Russia next weekend.
Kvyat, the only Russian driver on the grid, has a mixed record at Sochi, qualifying fifth in 2014, before racing to the same position 12 months later, having graduated to the senior Red Bull team.
However, Kvyat twice hit Ferrari rival Sebastian Vettel on the opening lap last year and drew widespread criticism, after which he was demoted from Red Bull to Toro Rosso.
“This is always a special weekend for me as it’s my home race,” said Kvyat.
“I’ve had very good qualifying [sessions] there but I’ve never actually been able to put the perfect race together in Russia, so I’d like to achieve it this year.
“In 2014 I qualified in P5, which was my best qualifying result with Toro Rosso. It was quite a nice moment and I have very good memories from that day.
“The race wasn’t great but then the following year the situation was the opposite, with not the strongest of qualifying [sessions] but with a decent race.
“This time I’m looking to be strong on both Saturday and Sunday!”
Kvyat says he has been able to note the growing interest towards Formula 1 in Russia, ahead of the fourth event at the former Winter Olympics venue.
“Since the first Russian GP back in 2014, Formula 1 in Russia has definitely grown a lot,” he said.
“To have our own race was a big step for the country and more and more fans attend every year, so you can see that the interest in the sport is much bigger.”
Kvyat occupies 14th place in the standings, having taken his sole points of 2017 at the season-opening race in Australia, where he finished ninth.
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