Daniil Kvyat admits he stopped enjoying Formula 1 following his demotion from Red Bull to sister team Toro Rosso earlier this season, and believes that has impacted his results.
The Russian driver scored a podium finish at the Chinese Grand Prix with Red Bull, but a number of mistakes after that saw the team promote Max Verstappen at the Spanish round, whilst Kvyat took up Verstappen's Toro Rosso seat.
Kvyat has scored just two points since, compared to team-mate Carlos Sainz who has scored 24 during their time together.
Kvyat believes the confidence knock can make him stronger in the long-run, but first he must rediscover his passion for driving.
"They [Red Bull] made me a really strong driver but now I'm not so strong because of all these things that happened a few months ago but it's not an excuse," he is quoted as saying by Autosport.
"These things in the end should make me stronger again but of course the whole situation made me reflect on things and it's not easy.
"It made me stop enjoying it for a while but now I need to get the enjoyment back and love what I do again."
Kvyat insists things are improving already and will continue to do so over the remaining nine races as he settles back into the Toro Rosso environment.
"Hopefully there are better things to come," he said.
"You have to be happy with the car, you have to be confident you are working together well, between driver and engineer.
"I feel we are improving that, step by step, and once we become confident about the things we have learned and build confidence in the car, it should be a good thing.
"The results are the best feedback to myself and to everyone else."
