Kvyat admits his chances of staying at AlphaTauri in 2021 are 'very slim'

Daniil Kvyat now seems largely resigned to losing his AlphaTauri seat at the end of the season, as he said ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix that his hopes of staying at the Faenza-based squad are dwindling.

With just three races left of the season, the Russian’s future still hasn’t been decided – and he has Japanese F2 driver Yuki Tsunoda apparently waiting in the wings to take his seat at the Red Bull sister squad. Kvyat therefore admitted that this season could be his last at AlphaTauri.

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“I know, like I said already, many times, that the chances of me being here next year are very slim," he said before the final triple header of the year. "It all depends on very particular scenarios so I’m kind of already with my mind just focusing on these three races here and not really thinking about the future.”

“I’m just going to give my best to this team in the next few races and then we will see, you know?”

Kvyat, who took a break from racing in F1 in 2018 when he worked as Ferrari's development driver before returning to Toro Rosso the next season, reiterated that he is committed to giving his all in the next three races for AlphaTauri regardless of whether he will stay or not in 2021.

The Russian continued: “They [AlphaTauri] deserve for me thinking about these three races and staying focused this year because in the end there’s a lot of ups and downs but lately it’s being going better and better and I’m just hoping to continue this trend, and close this year in the best way possible.

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“Whether I know I’m staying or not I always give my best in every race, already [have] for the last few races, and that doesn’t change. I just do my best, work with my engineers, do my best driving that I can and then that’s the only thing I can do in these circumstances.”

The Russian has 26 points to his team mate Pierre Gasly’s 63 with three races remaining. Gasly’s situation was settled nearly a month ago as he was confirmed to stay at the team through 2021.