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Things we love to see: Daniil Kvyat scoring his season best
Scuderia AlphaTauri's Daniil Kvyat turned in a rapid late-race performance and surged to an impressive 4th place at the first Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Italy's legendary Imola Circuit.
Formula One returned to Italy's Imola Circuit for the first time in 14 years for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix and in the Scuderia AlphaTauri ranks it was Daniil Kvyat's chance to shine, as the Russian recorded his best result of the season with a fighting fourth place.
At the start of the race, it looked as though Kvyat's team-mate Pierre Gasly was best placed to cause an upset after the winner of the Italian Grand Prix qualified an excellent fourth. Sadly, the French driver's race came to an end with a terminal coolant leak on lap eight, leaving Kvyat to take up the team's charge on home soil.
Daniil Kvyat finished one place off the podium in Imola
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
The Russian driver qualified well in eighth and in the race he came from nowhere to put together some great late-race pace to take his best result of the season. He finished one place off the podium, behind Renault's Daniel Ricciardo, as Valtteri Bottas ended up second behind Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen retired from second place after a right rear puncture sent the Dutch driver spinning into the gravel. This incident triggered the introduction of the Safety Car, which was key to Kvyat's superb result. The two-time podium finisher made a keen restart from seventh, as the Safety Car pulled-in on Lap 57 of 63, and scored some valuable points for the team.
Located near the Italian city of Bologna, the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari has played a part in some of the most memorable moments in F1 history, both triumphant and tragic. The first race hosted on the tree-lined, picturesque 4.8km circuit took place in 1981 under the banner of the San Marino Grand Prix and a year later it would be the venue for a titanic, wheel-to-wheel battle between fierce rivals and Ferrari team-mates Didier Pironi and Gilles Villeneuve.
In 1994 the circuit became the scene for one of the darkest weekends in the history of motor racing. On Saturday, during qualifying, Simtek driver and F1 rookie Roland Ratzenberger was killed in a high-speed shunt and on race day three-time F1 world champion Ayrton Senna also suffered a fatal accident, crashing out of the lead on lap seven at the flat-out Tamburello curve.
Max Verstappen was forced out of the race by a punture
© Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
F1's return to Imola was brought about by the ongoing effects of the global situation and the huge changes enforced on the race schedule, joining old F1 haunts like Nürburgring and Istanbul Park, as well as debutant circuits such as Mugello and Portimão.
It's Turkey's Istanbul Park where F1 heads next, for Round 14 of this extraordinary season and the first Turkish Grand Prix since 2011. Nine years ago Sebastian Vettel triumphed for Red Bull Racing en route to his second F1 crown. Can one of the Bulls make it to the top step of the podium again in Turkey?
