According to a new report seen by F1 Hub, Daniil Kvyat was “kicked out” of the Formula 1 paddock after a meeting with Helmut Marko after the United States GP.

The Toro Rosso Formula 1 team made it public on Monday that Gasly would replace Kvyat for the Mexican Grand Prix, and the team would retain Brendon Hartley, rather than Kvyat, despite the Russian scoring points upon his Formula 1 comeback.

However, new reports in the media now indicate that Red Bull management made a decision to sack the Russian before the United States Grand Prix weekend, whilst it was internally agreed on that the Russian would be told about the axe decision after the race comes to an end – which seemed to be executed correctly, as the Russian brought home one point for the team.

The Russian driver was told about the decision late Sunday afternoon after he had finished his media duties in the paddock, which meant there was no indication to world media of a Kvyat axe. In order to ensure media outlets do not capture this story until Red Bull send a press release, the Russian driver was effectively “kicked out”, and was unable to say goodbye to key personnel he had closely worked with since 2014.

The full report, which was seen by F1 Hub, said: “According to some foreign journos [journalists] Marko already decided before the GP in Austin that Dany [Daniil Kvyat] would have no longer run with Toro Rosso. Nothing was told to Dany until right after the race.

“After finishing the race, Dany gave his statement to the media and was called to Marko’s office and was told then that his career with Toro Rosso and Formula 1 was going to end there.

“He was also told to leave the paddock asap [as soon as possible], to the point that Dany didn’t have the chance to say goodbye to his team or anybody else. He was borderline kicked out.”