Three years ago Daniil Kvyat was demoted from Red Bull to Toro Rosso. This year the same happened to Pierre Gasly, and he found himself alongside Kvyat.

Kvyat had longer to get reacquainted with the Toro Rosso in 2016, but never really managed to , taking a beating from Carlos Sainz Jnr as he did. It was different for Gasly, who despite having fewer races to get used to the Toro Rosso again, soon showed signs of his 2018 form which persuaded Red Bull to give him a chance in the first place.

Despite Kvyat’s greater familiarity with the car, Gasly established a clear superiority in qualifying, out-pacing his team mate by two-tenths of a second on average. That counted for a lot in F1’s congested midfield, notably in Brazil, where Kvyat fell in the first round but Gasly qualified seventh.

That put him on course for Toro Rosso’s best result of the season, a retirement-aided but nonetheless fully-merited second place. That accounted for more than half of the 32 points he picked up at Toro Rosso, only five less than Kvyat managed over the whole season, even with his similarly fortuitous podium in Germany.

While Sochi was a wasted weekend for Kvyat due to persistent reliability problems, Gasly had the misfortune to be clumsily taken out on the first lap by at Yas Marina by Lance Stroll.

Kvyat didn’t help himself with a pair of late-race incident in consecutive races at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez and the Circuit of the Americas. Both of which copped penalties which, despite Kvyat’s protestations, were deserved, and cost him points.

Gasly’s late-season resurgence wasn’t enough to earn him an immediate return to Red Bull. But if he continue to show Kvyat the way, he may yet persuade the top team to give him a second chance.

Daniil Kvyat vs Pierre Gasly: Key stats

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Daniil Kvyat vs Pierre Gasly: Who finished ahead at each round

BEL ITA SIN RUS JAP MEX UNI BRA ABU Pierre Gasly Q R Daniil Kvyat Q R

Daniil Kvyat vs Pierre Gasly: Qualifying gap

Times based on the last qualifying round at each race weekend in which both drivers set a time. Negative indicates Daniil Kvyat was faster, positive means Pierre Gasly was faster

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2019 F1 season review