Red Bull Reject Downplays Lewis Hamilton’s Illustrious 7 WDCs Despite Being Replaced by Max Verstappen After Just One Season

The driver vs car debate is the one that has raged on for ages in F1. Do you have to have a great car to win races and championships? Or is it the driver that makes all the difference behind the wheel? A former F1 driver has given his verdict and it will not please the most successful all-time F1 driver, Lewis Hamilton.

Hamilton created quite a storm ever since he stepped foot in F1 in 2007. After all, you don’t always see a driver miss out on the championship by a single point in his rookie season. What was even more astonishing was the fact that he was teammates with Fernando Alonso back then. That was when the Asturian was coming at the back of two back-to-back championship wins. Despite that, the duo finished the season on the same number of points, kick-starting an epic rivalry.

Lewis Hamilton snubbed despite epic achievements in F1

Another driver that gives weight to the arguments in the car’s favor is Daniel Ricciardo. In the heyday when he was still a regular driver for Red Bull, many touted him to be the next big thing in the sport. His effortless driving coupled with controlled aggression saw many experts compare him with some of the greats the sport has seen. However, the Aussie driver ended up being a case of “wrong place at the wrong time” for arguably his entire career since moving on from RB.

In a recent episode of the Track Limits podcast, when asked what separates a great driver from an average one, Daniil Kvyat said, “A car. In many cases, it is because there are at least ten to fifteen guys who could definitely be race winners, maybe ten world champions, and the car makes a big difference still. It’s true and that’s the way it is. But I think a lot of strong guys, lot of strong personalities, and everyone’s quite different but everyone is able to be winning, except like a couple of guys but let’s not go there.”

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While on the podcast, Kvyat spoke candidly and made some stark revelations. He even talked about almost signing a deal with Ferrari.

Daniil Kvyat recalls the time when he almost replaced Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari

Daniil was greeted with tons of praise by team boss Christian Horner when he arrived at Red Bull. However, his time with the team was chaotic, to say the least. The Russian driver was replaced by Max Verstappen just after a year. Later, his stint with Toro Rosso was cut short when Pierre Gasly replaced him.

Speaking further on the podcast, he told, “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 [Raikkonen]. That was going on behind the curtain.”

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Daniil also revealed how it became difficult for him to mentally adjust to being at Toro Rosso from being wanted at Ferrari.