Kvyat to start Japanese GP from the pit lane

The left-hand side of his Red Bull was completely destroyed with both wheels missing from his vehicle.

Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat will start Sunday’s Japanese Formula One Grand Prix from the pitlane after turning his auto into the biggest wreck of his career.

“Unfortunately there is first time for everything and it felt the hardest one of my career”. “I’m sorry for the guys [in my team] – it has been a tough couple of weeks already and with this crash it’s extra work for the guys so I’m sorry about that”.

Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg secured pole position, less than a tenth of a second up on teammate Lewis Hamilton.

But with little practice this weekend due to heavy rain on Friday, Mercedes AMG came out with immediate pace on Saturday morning and, seemingly effortlessly, converted it into a 1-2 start by virtue of lap times almost half a second faster than their closest competition.

Hamilton reckoned he was on course to snatch pole position from Rosberg before Kvyat’s crash.

The Russian was doing his final flying lap in Q3 of the session in Suzuka when his auto slammed into a wall and did a 360-degree flip, leaving debris across the racetrack.

“It’s fantastic after such a hard weekend in Singapore to be back to back to our usual strength today”, he added. I never had a vehicle crash until now… maybe in karting, I have never rolled a auto.

He also appeared content with his car’s performance in light of last week’s retiral despite the abbreviated nature of the qualifying session.

As for Daniel Ricciardo, the Australian driver will start from seventh on the grid.

“It is a shame this crash, and I am disappointed about the missed opportunity”, he explained.

Kvyat told Sky Sports F1: “I made a mistake and put two wheels on the grass – it was quite a logical end I think”.

He said, “The most important thing today is that Dany is alright after what was a very big accident in Q3”.

“There was a yellow flag in the middle sector so obviously I had to lift and without that I probably would have got through”, Button explained. We’re starting something like P10 and I don’t know what will happen now.