Dany Kvyat: “It was a bit of a rolling procedure…”

Dany Kvyat will start the Japanese GP from the pitlane after emerging unhurt from his huge crash in qualifying at Suzuka.

The Russian got a wheel on the grass at a fast lefthander and plunged into the tyre wall, before rolling over in the gravel. The team changed his chassis as a precaution, and that automatically leads to a pitlane start.

“I put my rear wheel just slightly on the white line on Turn 10 entry,” said Kvyat. “And once you go on the marbles, it went straight into the wall, and then it was a bit of a rolling procedure.

“You always try to straighten the braking for that corner and I just did a bit too much and I just touched the piece of grass there and basically it happens sometimes, it is my mistake, a rookie error.

“I think they told me it was about 20G, I am not sure. I thought I could do better than that to be honest! It is a shame this crash, disappointed about the missed opportunity. During qualifying I had to keep learning as our FP3 didn’t go completely to plan, these things happen unfortunately.

“I am mostly sorry for the guys who will have to do quite a job, I would have said the car looked great, so I will be supporting them tonight. I am not as good as them at building the car but I will try to stay with them as long as I can tonight. I mainly feel sorry for them – but it was a lost opportunity, because the lap wasn’t looking too bad until then.”

Kvyat said it was the biggest crash of his career to date: “Quite far the hardest for sure. I never had a car crash until now – maybe in karting. I never rolled. Unfortunately there is first time for everything and it felt the hardest one of my career.”