Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat has hit back at comments made by former driver manager Willi Weber saying that F1 drivers are no longer as courageous and risky as they used to be, and has given his support to the changes made to circuits to improve safety standards.
Speaking to Bild earlier this week, Weber said that the sport had lost its edge and no longer had drivers with character. “Who wants to see the wimps of today crying on the radio?” he pondered. “There are no more characters like Ayrton Senna, Jacques Villenueve and Michael Schumacher were.
“They would not complain on the radio but give their answer on the track.”
For some time, many critics have claimed that the sport is becoming too easy for drivers, but Kvyat explained to Omnicorse that he felt this sold the current grid very short.
“Courage is always an important part of motorsport,” the Russian said. “I don’t like it when they say that nowadays the drivers don’t take risks and that we, in comparison with the 80s, are not real men. All these things are bullsh*t.”
Earlier this week, pictures of a newly-asphalted run-off area at Parabolica at Monza were released, causing a backlash as one of the sport’s classic corners became a little less difficult. For Kvyat though, these changes are sensible to improve safety standards.
“When you go to 340 km/h and miss the brakes you end up in the wall, even if there is 100m of asphalt,” he said. “The risk in F1 cannot be erased.
“And if they had kept the run-off areas as gravel we could see drivers getting injured every weekend. So it is right that we do everything we can to improve the safety of the tracks and cars.”
