Kvyat urges Toro Rosso to look into sudden pace drop-off

The Russian and his teammate Alex Albon had impressed with their speed for much of the Baku weekend, with both drivers delivering their best grid positions of the season so far.

But despite starting a hugely encouraging sixth, Kvyat struggled for pace in the race and slid down the order before the bizarre escape road collision with Daniel Ricciardo put him out.

Kvyat said there were no immediate answers for why things had been so difficult in the race, but thinks it important his team gets to the bottom of what went wrong.

“We lost a big amount of grip all of a sudden,” said Kvyat about a very difficult first stint that dropped him to 12th by lap five.

“It was like a big warning. So we think we got something slightly wrong. I don't know whatever it is, but we need to analyse it now and we can learn from it.”

Kvyat said the pace after his switch to mediums was not too bad, but by then the damage had been done.

"When we pitted for the yellow [medium] tyre, C3, it wasn't looking too bad. The pace still wasn't excellent enough to match perhaps McLaren, but we were hanging there.

“We were still in a race for a point or a couple of points, and obviously Daniel caught [me]. I was aware he was going to catch me sooner or later. So honestly he just had to be a little bit more patient and it wouldn't have been an issue.

“It’s a shame, but we need to investigate why we were so competitive throughout [practice and qualifying] and we lost all of a sudden the pace [in the race]. I am sure our guys will be on it and we'll be better next time.”