After clouting Sebastian Vettel twice at the Russian Grand Prix in 2016, you might think Ferrari would think twice about signing the ousted Red Bull/Toro Rosso driver but apparently it didn’t because that’s exactly what has happened.
The Russian driver has had a mixed bag of a career with moments of outright brilliant pace coupled with a serious lack of restraint and race craft and he was benched for a while to cool him off. That seemed to work for a time but eventually the old Daniil came back and Toro Rosso parted company with him mid-season last year.
I visited Ferrari’s website and what I found interesting is there was no story posted on it or a press release, just two posts linking back to their Facebook and Twitter account announcing Danill as a reserve driver.
I find that very strange as a company the size of Ferrari should be the creators and source of their own news, not simply a linking agent or aggregate for their social media sites. Why would Ferrari want Facebook or Twitter to be the host of all Ferrari news instead of using the platforms to drive traffic to their site where they can share news, set narratives and create a place for viewers to explore and become steeped in their brand?
Sure, social media may be massive and a change in media outreach but the art of marketing and brand positioning hasn’t changed that much. I had lunch with Ferrari’s head of communications, Stefano Lai, a while back and he seemed to be completely on top of it. He explained that he medium has changed (print, radio, tv, internet) but the mission, message and brand remain the same. Odd way to announce a driver.
I think Daniil may benefit from his time at Ferrari and needs a place to call home. He truly does have flashes of brilliance and serious pace and if he can get his head around the race craft and not trying to win everything at the first corner, he may find a way back in to Formula 1.
When Paul and I met him at breakfast in Austin, right after he had signed with Toro Rosso, he couldn’t have been a nicer young man but that changed quickly when the pressure mounted and he turned quite acidic in his approach to the team and other drivers. That needs to be solved and perhaps Ferrari can solve it.
Hard to say how he gets out of this exactly. It might, like Esteban Gutiérrez lead him back into the F1 paddock in a year but time will tell. Whatever happens it is a home for him as you say, and more importantly it gets him out of the Red Bull group which at this point can only be a good thing. It could also possibly be a better deal for Ferrari at this point than it is for Kvyat. He’s going to represent them at F1 Clienti events etc assuming the role is the same as Marc Gene which… Read more »
I guess he can’t do any damage to the cars in the simulator.
Vettel and Kvyat have had a few ‘disagreements’ on track… Only mentioning the role on social media… Vettel is known for not frequenting social media… hmm, a coincidence!
I doubt this leads to a return to F1, but Ferrari has plenty of fast cars that require capable drivers. Not to mention, this probably bolsters their sales efforts to Russian Oligarchs. If I were a Russian Oligarch, I’d love to have Danill Kyvat take me for a few hot laps in my new La Ferrari to show me what it is capable of in the right hands.
“I doubt this will lead to a return to FI” This is in itself a return to F1, But I too doubts if it will lead to a return to race in F1.
While Kvyat’s new FERRARI deal did lead him back to F1 after being totally outed from F1 by red bull it does not mean it lead him back to a F1 race seat, in fact his deal is not even as a reserve driver but as a development driver which in modern times means simulator work. Present day big teams simulators are a far cry from previous simulators, the present virtual road simulators as supplied by AVL and which are reputed to cost anything past 40 million Euro involves an actual car whose 4 wheel hubs are attached to road… Read more »