Former Red Bull Formula 1 driver Danill Kvyat has revealed that he narrowly missed out on a race drive to replace Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari. Kvyat was promoted into the senior Red Bull squad in just his second season in 2015, out-scoring teammate Daniel Ricciardo, and he started 2016 well with a podium in round three in China. However, by round five in Spain, he had been demoted back to Toro Rosso, with Max Verstappen promoted in his place. The Russian driver, who now races in LMP2 in the World Endurance Championship, has revealed that at the time of the podium in Shanghai, a deal to replace Raikkonen was presented to him. "I was performing really well and had just scored another podium for the team," he explained to the Track Limits podcast. "At the time, I also had a proposal to race for Ferrari to replace Kimi. "This was going on behind the curtains and it was a difficult situation for me mentally too, from having been wanted by Ferrari and seeing the contract, and then going back to Toro Rosso suddenly." Kvyat would join Ferrari in 2018 as a reserve and test driver, while Raikkonen would eventually be replaced at the end of that season by Charles Leclerc.
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