Daniil Kvyat is looking forward to jumping into his new AlphaTauri AT01 Formula One car at a private filming day at Misano on Saturday after a showpiece event to launch the new car was held in Red Bull's Salzburg Hangar 7 on Friday night.
Alpha Tauri celebrated their arrival on the Formula One grid by throwing a party complete with a showcase of their fashion lines and the minor business of launching their Formula One car.
“Obviously, it’s a big thing going on here tonight – a new name for the team and a new livery,” said Kvyat. “Technically, the team is going to carry on the evolution from last year. I would say that it was a strong year, in terms of the teams performance last year.
“A highlight for me is the podium in Germany and other strong races as well, so we just want to continue in this way this year as well.
“There is a lot of hard work behind the scenes and we are really hopeful for a good year.”
Talking again after the runway fashion show and launch of the AT01, Kvyat added, “Tomorrow morning I’ll take this car out for the first time in Misano, so very exciting times.
“Then we go testing for real in Barcelona next week. The colour, white, feels very elegant, so very cool times.”
Asked whether he can build on the podium result in Germany going forwards, Kvyat replied, “Talking about that race, it was a fantastic reward for all of the work that we have been doing as a team and also Pierre [Gasly] had one in Brazil, so it was a fantastic year for the team in general.”