Daniil Kvyat says his recent outing at Imola highlighted his belief that more modern Formula 1 circuits are designed to be “too perfect.”
Imola hosted Formula 1 races between 1980 and 2006 and remains an outside contender to hold a grand prix in the coronavirus-affected 2020 campaign.
AlphaTauri tested at Imola as part of a filming day with its 2020-spec AT01 and also brought its 2018 STR13 for Kvyat and Pierre Gasly.
“I already knew it from previous experiences and always thought it was a very exciting track to drive,” said Kvyat.
“It’s quite cool, quite bumpy, the kerbs are challenging and I get the feeling that changing the tracks too much and trying to make them very similar – like, we’re seeing similar kerbs everywhere – or trying to be afraid of bumpiness, trying to make all tracks too perfect is the wrong direction to take in Formula 1 and racing in general.
“That’s probably the good thing about Imola, that I understood, and I also got a lot of pleasure driving there.
“It was cool, some of these corners in a Formula 1 car, like Acqua Minerale. With the entry being so fast, is cool, I really liked it. It gives you a lot of adrenalin, so this track, for sure gave me very good emotions to drive on.”
Team-mate Gasly concurred on the nuances of Imola’s layout.
“I think Imola is amazing,” he said. “For me, it was one of the best experiences driving a Formula 1 car.
“So I think it’s… just the history of that track makes it really special. It was already in my favourite tracks, but last time I was there was in 2013 with Formula Renault, which obviously goes a lot slower, but with the downforce and speed we go in these Formula 1 cars, still kind of old tracks with pretty small run off areas the adrenaline was incredible.
“So, yeah, I would really like to see Imola on the calendar.”
