Ex-Red Bull F1 star sees race CANCELLED after bizarre crash

Max Verstappen, Sebastian Vettel, Daniil Kvyat, Germany 2019 — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 Off the Track

Ex-Red Bull F1 star sees race CANCELLED after bizarre crash

Daniil Kvyat raced in F1 between 2014 and 2020

Kerry Violet F1 News Editor

F1 editor and journalist covering motorsport since 2024.

Sunday 17 November 2024 15:52

A former Formula 1 star has seen the race he was taking part in end prematurely after an unusual incident on track.

The F1 calendar is in the midst of the final break of the 2024 season, ahead of the sport's return to Las Vegas next weekend for the first of the final three races of the year.

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Red Bull have endured a torrid season as a team, having to fight much harder for points than in previous years following their return to domination of the sport between 2021 and 2023.

Star driver Max Verstappen secured a record 19 out of a possible 22 wins last year, bringing home the championship double for Red Bull for a second consecutive year.

This season, however, the team look unlikely to remain victorious in the constructors' championship after Verstappen's team-mate Sergio Perez has failed to secure points for Christian Horner's outfit frequently in 2024.

Red Bull are currently third in the F1 constructors' standings

Max Verstappen was promoted to the main Red Bull team in 2016, replacing Daniil Kvyat

Kvyat race cancelled in unique Suzuka outing

Verstappen's rise to the top of F1 took a significant turn when he was promoted to the main Red Bull team in 2016, with the Milton Keynes outfit choosing to demote Daniil Kvyat back down to Toro Rosso (now VCARB).

Kvyat was swapped in and out of the junior team's lineup until 2020, when he was permanently replaced by Yuki Tsunoda at the conclusion of the season, marking the end of his F1 career.

Having raced in alternative series' since his exit from the pinnacle of motorsport, Kvyat, who also shares a child with Verstappen's partner Kelly Piquet, has now turned to a unique form of racing.

Kvyat is the only human driver in the A2RL - the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League - where he pilots a car based on the Dallara SF23 chassis that debuted in Super Formula in 2023.

Last weekend, A2RL headed to Suzuka, a track Kvyat knows well, where the showcase was cut short thanks to a crash from one of the AI-piloted cars, the EAV24 spinning off the track at Turn 11, during the warm-up.

AIまさかのイン巻きクラッシュ
クビアトも困惑 #SFormula pic.twitter.com/rtJfUpVHg2
— miya (@myaot_ym) November 10, 2024

The delay to recover the car meant the 15-minute demonstration couldn't conclude due to the time restrictions of the hectic Super Formula finale schedule.

Speaking on the disappointing end to the display, Kvyat told The Race: "While our race could not be completed on Sunday as planned, racing at Suzuka against TII Racing’s AI car during our dry run was incredible and the atmosphere on Sunday on the grid with all the Japanese fans was electric.

"From the beginning of my involvement with the project, AI’s progress has been impressive, learning and improving with each trial and I am proud to be playing a role in advancing AI and autonomous technology that will benefit many people in the near future."

Written by

Kerry Violet - F1 News Editor

Having graduated from the University of Sheffield with a 2:1 in Journalism in 2022, Kerry continued her pursuit of finding a full-time position in motorsport through work with the F1 Arcade in London, where she got to meet true fans of the sport and make a live grand prix watch party memorable for them. It was here she realised her background in journalism and love of motorsport could be combined, going on to volunteer with the female-led platform Empoword Journalism. Having completed stints as a screen editor and sports editor, Kerry landed her first F1-specific editorial role with GPFans and has thoroughly enjoyed continuing to work more closely with the sport ever since. The access GPFans offers Kerry has allowed her to interview big names such as Naomi Schiff and David Coulthard and given her experiences she could only have dreamt of as a young F1 fan which she hopes to build on.

View full biography

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