Tost dismisses claims Kvyat struck lucky at Imola

AlphaTauri boss Franz Tost has insisted Daniil Kvyat's fourth-place finish in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was “not lucky” as the team proved it now has a competitive car to take the fight to closest rivals Ferrari.

The Red Bull sister team, based 15 kilometres from the Imola circuit, is closing in on Ferrari’s sixth place in the constructors' championship after making a two-point gain on its Italian rivals on Sunday.

AlphaTauri rolled the dice to give Kvyat fresh tyres in a late safety car period, after which he was able to pass Sergio Perez, Alex Albon and, crucially, Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari to finish fourth, just behind Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo.

“We were not lucky, we took the right decision," asserted Tost. "All the other teams could have done the same, some of them did it, some did not. We did it and we got something out of it, three places at the end.

“With more laps to go, I think he would have had a good chance to overtake (Ricciardo). Daniil was also good in qualifying. He likes the track, he was very happy with the car and he showed a really good performance.

“Currently, we have quite a competitive car. We were fast in Spa, we were fast in Monza, we had a good race at the Nürburgring where we finished sixth, we did a good race in Portimão and we also had a competitive car in Imola.

“I am positive that we will also have a competitive car in Istanbul [for the Turkish GP]."

Kvyat's team-mate Pierre Gasly had been the lead AlphaTauri all weekend, qualifying fourth and challenging Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen into the first corner.

The Frenchman suffered from what Tost confirmed was a drop in water pressure and was forced to retire for the third time this season to protect the power unit.

"It was a fantastic weekend for him," Tost added. "He did really good qualifying, finishing in fourth.

"He had a fantastic start, he was on the side of Hamilton and Hamilton pushed him to the right and he had to lift, but nevertheless, he came back in the first lap in fifth position and did a fantastic job.

"He was very disappointed, as we all are, because he could have scored a good number of points.

"We observed after four or five race laps that the water pressure decreased and then we decided to bring him in because we didn’t want to risk the power unit."

Before you go...

Improvements show Ferrari can come back fighting in 2021 - Leclerc

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