The Russian was demoted back to to the Red Bull junior team ahead of the Spanish GP in a shock swap that saw Max Verstappen replace him at Milton Keynes.
Having admitted that he needed more track time to adapt to the Ferrari-powered STR11, Kvyat described his recent 116-lap day of testing at Circuit de Barcelona as “crucial”.
“I’m pretty happy about how it went, a lot of information, a lot of things I tried which hopefully we will be able to put on the car for Monaco next week and will work,” he said. “So it was a very productive day for myself and the team.”
Asked whether he felt more at ease behind the wheel heading to one of the most unforgiving street circuit in the world, the 22-year-old added: “Yeah. Obviously here and Monaco are very different tracks. But let’s see, it will be a perfect opportunity because Monaco is a confidence track so will be important to see how much confidence I have in the car. Usually I’ve been good there so should be OK this time too.”
Twelve months ago, Kvyat had also arrived in Monte Carlo on the back of a challenging first few races, but the former GP3 Series champion managed to turn a corner by qualifying a strong fifth before beating then team-mate Daniel Ricciardo to fourth in the race.
