Toro Rosso have announced that the 2016 GP2 champion, Pierre Gasly will be replacing Kvyat at the team for the remainder of the season.
The 21 year old will make his F1 debut this weekend in Malaysia. He will be replacing Daniil Kvyat, who has had a tough year scoring just 4 points. The russian was demoted from Red Bull last year after an incident in the Russian GP.
Gasly is looking forward to his debut, saying that:
“This is a great opportunity for me…I feel as ready as I can be, having had to be prepared for anything in my role as Red Bull Racing’s third driver this year.”
With Sainz confirmed to be making the switch to Renault next year, Toro Rosso potentially have two free seats. This late driver swap suggests that Kvyat will not be making it back next year, with Nobuharu Matsushita a potential replacement. Having won races in F2, he has strong links with Honda – who will be supplying Toro Rosso their engines next year.