Russian took three F3 poles at the venue last year
Tuesday 17 June 2014 14:29, UK
Daniil Kvyat is looking forward to F1’s return to Austria this weekend branding the Red Bull Ring his “kind of track”.
The Austrian GP is returning to the calendar for the first time since 2003 and only Jenson Button, Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen remain on the grid from that race.
However, having only recently progressed through the junior ranks, Kvyat has competed at the Mur Valley venue since it reopened in 2011 winning both Formula Renault 2.0 Alps races in 2012 and taking pole position for all three European F3 Championship races last year.
"This is one of my favourite circuits,” the Russian said.
“I raced here in Formula Renault Alps and had two wins there in 2012. I had a great weekend and really loved the track. Last year I went back to the Red Bull Ring with Formula 3 this time and again I had great memories taking three poles out of three, followed by three second places in the races. It’s my kind of track, with heavy braking points and it is quite a technical track. It has some fast and medium speed corners which I really enjoy.
“Hopefully the STR9 will go well there. The scenery is beautiful, typical Austrian nature! It’s going to be a big weekend for the Red Bull family, but I will be concentrating on the usual jobs of getting everything sorted and finding the right set-up from first free practice, having the right approach and seeing how it goes. You need to find a good balance there as there are some reasonably long straights. But it’s mainly about high speed corners which is where you find most of the lap time."
The reigning GP3 Champion has impressed thus far in his rookie season and scored points in three of his first four races.
