BREAKING: Daniil Kvyat signs for Toro Rosso!

Daniil Kvyat has officially signed for Toro Rosso, just under a year after initially being axed by the team, with the Russian re-joining the grid at the start of the 2019-season.

There were already a lot of reports suggesting that the deal was already done before the official announcement, making it a mere formality and no real surprise to anyone. Still, big news nonetheless.

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— Toro Rosso (@ToroRosso) September 29, 2018

Much like in 2014, when he first joined Toro Rosso, Kvyat is replacing a driver who had just been promoted to Red Bull. Back then, it was Daniel Ricciardo, and now its the man who will be replacing Ricciardo at Red Bull, Pierre Gasly.

His F1-career has been a strange one so far. After a year at Toro Rosso, he got promoted to Red Bull, replacing the departing four-time champion Sebastian Vettel, who had left for Ferrari. in the 2015-season, Kvyat scored one podium, making him the second youngest driver ever to stand on the podium at the time and the first Russian ever on an F1-podium.

People often forget that Kvyat finished with more points than Daniel Ricciardo that season.

In 2016, Kvyat scored another podium but got demoted back to Toro Rosso after colliding with Vettel in his home race in Sochi. Max Verstappen took his place at Red Bull.

He finished the season at Toro Rosso, teaming up with his old GP3 teammate Carlos Sainz Junior. He did well enough to earn himself another season at the team, but was ultimately axed after a 2017-season that was littered with both mechanical DNF's and many mistakes from the Russian himself. He was released from the Red Bull programme and started working as a simulation driver for Ferrari in 2018.

Quite the ride for the still only 24-year-old Kvyat, who will have a chip on his shoulder coming back to his old team. Which version of him shows up in 2019 remains to be seen, and who shows up in the garage to him also remains to be seen. 

Welcome back, Daniil!