#26 | Daniil Kvyat | Scuderia Toro Rosso

Date of Birth: 26/04/1994 | Nationality: Russian | Twitter: @Dany_Kvyat

Career:

Kvyat will race for Toro Rosso in 2014 after progressing rapidly through the junior formula system.

The 19-year-old Russian first raced cars in 2010 when he achieved moderate success in Formula BMW. He stepped up to the Formula Renault 2.0 Series in 2011 and finished behind Robin Frijns and Carlos Sainz Jr. He contested the same championship in 2012 and was narrowly beaten by McLaren youngster Stoffel Vandoorne. He also clinched the Formula Renault 2.0 Alps championship, having won half of the races.

For 2013 Kvyat split his commitments between GP3 and the European Formula Three Championship. After a safe start, Kvyat kicked into gear after the summer break by claiming three successive feature race wins on his way to a rookie GP3 crown. Due to his late entry and partial F3 campaign, he was ineligible for championship points but nonetheless amassed five pole positions and a win and would have been in contention for a top five finish.

Kvyat's form grabbed the attention of Red Bull, with whom he had been associated since his racing debut in 2010. Red Bull was sufficiently impressed with Kvyat's form to promote him straight from GP3 to Formula 1. The Russian participated in the young driver test at Silverstone for the team and also took part in the final two practice sessions of 2013 in the USA and Brazil, impressing with his pace and maturity.