Former Red Bull driver Daniil Kyvat has reflected on his rivalry with Daniel Ricciardo and revealed his personality was "a bit too much" for his liking.
The Russian driver joined Red Bull in 2015, promoted from sister team Toro Rosso to replace four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel. It was his first experience of a seat at one of the top teams, while the Australian had already established himself at Milton Keynes.
Speaking to the Track Limits podcast, Kyvat explained how he was affected by his new team-mate's growing reputation. He said: "Daniel Ricciardo at the time was like a big superstar, and when I came into the team, he just beat Vettel so there was a lot of hype around him in the team and everywhere.
"So, everyone was like, 'Yeah, he's the man to beat now. He's probably the best driver on the grid right now'." On top of his racing ability, Ricciardo has been a huge personality since he first entered the paddock in 2010 and is very popular amongst fans.
However, even though Kvyat liked his new team-mate, he was not so keen on the Aussie's temperament. He said: "My impression of him was he was the man at the time, very funny personality so very attractive for media – bit too much for me – but no, we got along well."
Kvyat also asserted that, once the Australian got a glimpse of his speed, he become a lot more competitive. The Russian driver finished above Ricciardo in the 2015 standings, which was considered a poor season overall by Red Bull.
Kvyat said: "There was a lot of rivalry between us, of course. The beginning was like he was taking things easy, then when he saw that, okay, I have pace, then [he] started also to stay in [the] motorhome until midnight, like me."
They even competed over who would spend the most time working to improve: "We were both there sitting, engineers were gone already and we were still there studying the data seeing who would go home later."
Despite the rivalry between the two former team-mates, Kvyat recognised Ricciardo's influence on him as a driver. He added: "He's been a very strong rival – I think pushing me to the limit. An impression? Yeah, a lot of jokes, but he's a nice, nice guy."
