Kvyat set for first Ferrari F1 outing

Daniil Kvyat will get his first taste of driving a Ferrari Formula 1 car during Pirelli’s first in-season tyre development programme of 2018, which takes place at Fiorano this week. 

The Russian was announced as the Scuderia’s development driver earlier this year, having lost his Toro Rosso seat after being dropped from the Red Bull F1 programme. 

Kvyat scored two podiums for Red Bull in the 72 grands prix he contested for the Milton Keynes-based squad and Toro Rosso, but ultimately lost his F1 seat following poor results throughout 2016 and 2017. 

Pirelli begins its in-season tyre development this week at the Fioranco Circuit, with Kvyat scheduled to drive for Ferrari on Friday after Alfa Romeo Sauber third driver and Ferrari junior Antonio Giovinazzi runs on Thursday. 

Giovinazzi, the 2016 GP2 runner-up, has acted as the Italian outfit’s reserve driver since 2017 and took part in two F1 races for Sauber in Australia and China in 2017 in place of injured regular driver Pascal Wehrlein. 

The test is set to take place under artificial wet conditions, with both drivers set to run on wet Pirelli tyres. The Italian tyre manufacturer is permitted up to 25 days of running per season, with running split between all 10 current F1 teams. 

Teams run current-spec F1 cars but are not allowed to use any updates in order to ensure no unfair advantages are gained, with Pirelli strictly controlling test conditions. 

Following Ferrari’s test this week, McLaren and Haas are the next teams slated to run Pirelli’s programme, with the two teams scheduled to conduct the test during the first in-season F1 test at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya in May.