“It was a stab in the back” - Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Daniil Kvyat switch left the former F1 racer ‘betrayed’

Daniil Kvyat has expressed his unhappiness with the way Red Bull Racing moved him out of the team and promoted Max Verstappen to his place in 2016.

When Sebastian Vettel left Red Bull for Ferrari in 2015, Kvyat was promoted to the team to replace the departing German. He had a good first season with the Milton Keynes-based outfit, outscoring teammate Daniel Ricciardo by 95 points to 92.

The following year, while Kvyat secured his second career podium in China, he cost the team a chance to score points thanks to his double collision with Vettel in Russia. The race ended with Vettel storming into the Red Bull garage and giving his former team principal Christian Horner apiece of his mind.

Ricciardo had also demanded an apology from his teammate as his collision with Vettel unwittingly sent the German into the back of the Australian, resulting in him finishing P11.

After the race, Red Bull decided to promote the then-18-year-old Verstappen to the team and sent Kvyat back to Toro Rosso. Looking back at the sequence of events, the Russian has stated that the manner in which how everything unfolded hurt him a lot. He told the Track Limits podcast (via planetf1):

“I felt really betrayed at that moment. It was a stab in the back and that’s life, you get stabbed in the back sometimes you know, it’s normal. Now, it’s the past. I have another good career in racing so part of me of course, is very thankful to Red Bull. The other part of me is still very unhappy with it.”

It particularly hurt Kvyat as he had just rejected a move to Ferrari to stay with Red Bull. He added:

“I was performing really well. And I just scored another podium for the team [at the 2016 Chinese Grand Prix] and then at the time, I had also a proposal to race for Ferrari to replace Kimi. That was going on behind the curtain."

"So it was a very difficult situation also for me mentally to go back from being wanted by Ferrari and having seen the contract and then you go back to Toro Rosso suddenly and then you’re like, it’s not going very well suddenly.”

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Mercedes boss' indirect role in Max Verstappen vs Daniil Kvyat drama

Interestingly, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff had an indirect role in Daniil Kvyat going through the game of musical chairs with Max Verstappen in 2016.

Verstappen wouldn't have been a part of the Red Bull Racing family if not for Wolff advising him to join them. The Austrian recently revealed that he urged the Dutchman to make the move instead of hedging his bets with Mercedes.

Wolff stated that while the Silver Arrows had an opportunity to sign Verstappen in 2014, long-term contracts for the team's drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg meant he decided against signing him.

In a conversation with Motorsport Italy, Wolff said:

"I didn't have a Formula 1 steering wheel to offer him [Max Verstappen]. We had Lewis and Nico and both had long-term contracts, Max was clearly an interesting youngster but at that moment we could have offered him a place in GP2 and then maybe a contract."

In hindsight, Vertappen's move to Toro Rosso and his promotion to Red Bull in 2016 has worked out well for both the 25-year-old and the team. Having won back-to-back titles in 2021 and 2022, he looks on course for a hat-trick of titles this year.