Kvyat convinced "I am the best" after "perfect" Russian GP

Daniil Kvyat has made the bold claim he is "the best" Formula 1 driver after finishing eighth in his home grand prix.

After being promoted to 11th on the grid after Alex Albon was hit with a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change, the AlphaTauri driver then made the most of an aggressive strategy to score his third consecutive points finish.

Kvyat claimed eighth at the Sochi Autodrom, just eight-tenths of a second behind Renault's Esteban Ocon.

“I know that if I get it right on Sunday I am the best and I can fly, and this was exactly this day," boasted Kvyat.

"I got everything right with my engineers, the set-up, the strategy. Once I was in clean air I felt that this was my race.”

The Russian driver had started the race on the hard compound tyres, while the majority of those in the bottom order elected to run mediums.

Running deep into the race before stopping, Kvyat was able to make the most of his fresh medium rubber towards the end, carving his way through the pack before getting stuck behind Ocon.

“I’m so happy," Kvyat added. "My home race, it couldn’t have gone any better.

"I wanted this strategy, I wanted to go strong. I was confident this morning that we could make things work and that’s exactly what we did.

“When I saw [Lewis] Hamilton behind me and when I was able to keep him behind me for a couple of laps I thought ‘the pace in the race is amazing’.

“Perfect! Just a shame not being able to force Ocon into a mistake otherwise we could have been P7 because we were quicker. But otherwise, can’t complain.”

Before you go...

Ferrari upgrade 'insufficient' but a small step "in the right direction"

Sochi turn two shocker needs Bahrain re-design - Russell

Related

More F1 news

Latest F1 news

Max Verstappen drops huge hint over Red Bull future as Mercedes rumours swell

• Just now

F2 and F3 plan to race despite fears of F1 grands prix cancellation in Middle East crisis

• 58 minutes ago

Even Jeremy Clarkson can't get his head around the new F1 rules in Sky Sports dig

• 1 hour ago

F1 News Today: Mercedes could 'block' Horner return, Verstappen rages

• 2 hours ago

Red Bull must ‘meet in the middle’ to avoid repeat of painful driver axing

• 2 hours ago

What is super-clipping?

• Today 14:56