Kvyat was born in Ufa and raised in Moscow, where he first raced go-karts before moving to Italy. He resides in Monaco and is fluent in Russian, Italian, Spanish, and English, with some ability in Finnish and Dutch. In January 2005, Kvyat made his professional motorsport debut in Sochi, winning his first race. During 2005 and 2006 he participated in local events including the Russian karting championship. His family relocated to Italy during the winter of 2007 to support his racing.
In 2008, Kvyat signed with the Zanardi factory team led by Dino Chiesa, moving to the KF3 junior category in the World Series Karting. After the partnership produced no success he switched to Morsicani Racing using an FA Kart chassis, forming a productive partnership that yielded wins at WSK rounds and the Bridgestone Cup. He defeated former Zanardi teammate Nyck de Vries, and won the Trofeo delle Industrie with finishes ahead of Antonio Giovinazzi and Rafaele Marchiello in the final heat. In 2009, Kvyat won the prestigious Winter Cup in the KF3 category starting from the last position on the grid after a qualifying clutch failure, ultimately overtaking Carlos Sainz Jr. to reach the top of the podium. During summer 2009, both Kvyat and Sainz Jr. took part in a Red Bull testing session for the Red Bull Junior Team and both signed contracts with the Austrian company.
Kvyat travelled to Malaysia with Eurointernational to race in the Formula BMW Asian Championship before the European season, winning his first race. His European results improved across the season; he qualified on the front row in Germany and finished on the podium at Monza. He then won a race in the Asian Championships in Singapore.
Before the 2011 European season, Kvyat competed in the Toyota Racing Series in New Zealand with Victory Motor Racing, finishing fifth in the championship with a win in the Dan Higgins Trophy at Manfeild and five further podiums.
Kvyat joined Koiranen for full 2011 seasons in both the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 and the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup alongside Carlos Sainz Jr.. He finished runner-up behind Sainz in the Northern European Cup with seven wins, including a hat-trick at Monza, while in the Eurocup he was outpaced by Robin Frijns and Sainz.
For 2012, Kvyat competed in both Formula Renault 2.0 Alps and the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0. He opened the Alps championship with a dominant double win at Monza and in May recorded a double Eurocup win at Motorland Aragón. His Eurocup rival was Stoffel Vandoorne, who won four races to Kvyat's six but never finished below fourth. Kvyat lost points at the Nürburgring through a wrong tyre choice and at the Hungaroring after a collision with Oliver Rowland. The Eurocup title was decided at the final round in Barcelona, where Koiranen GP chose wet tyres on a drying track; Kvyat did not score enough points to take the title. Hours later at the same venue, Kvyat won the Alps title after both championship rivals crashed out; he had more overall points and secured the championship.
Kvyat spent 2013 in the GP3 Series with MW Arden and the European Formula 3 championship with Carlin Motorsport, the latter as a guest ineligible for points. In Formula 3 he scored five pole positions, seven podiums, and a dominant win at Zandvoort. After that win, Helmut Marko — head of the Red Bull Junior Team — offered him an F1 contract. He also scored his first GP3 podium at the Hungaroring in July, won in Spa in August, then won the GP3 championship by claiming pole, victory, fastest lap, and every lap led in both the Monza and Abu Dhabi feature races.
Kvyat made his Formula One debut for Scuderia Toro Rosso at the 2014 Australian Grand Prix alongside Jean-Éric Vergne, replacing Daniel Ricciardo who had moved to Red Bull Racing. Aged nineteen, Kvyat qualified in the top ten and finished ninth, breaking Sebastian Vettel's record as the youngest points-scorer in Formula One history. He went on to score points in Malaysia, China, Britain, and Belgium, finishing fifteenth in the World Championship. The organisers of the inaugural Russian Grand Prix announced their intention to name a stand in the Sochi Autodrom after him.
Kvyat was promoted to Red Bull for 2015 to replace the departing Vettel, who moved to Ferrari. He took his first podium with a second-place finish at the 2015 Hungarian Grand Prix — the highest finish for a Russian driver in Formula One at that time — becoming the second-youngest driver to record a podium, after Vettel. Kvyat ended the season with 95 points and seventh place in the Drivers' Championship, finishing three points ahead of race-winning teammate Daniel Ricciardo.
In 2016, Kvyat secured the first Red Bull podium of the new season with a third place in China. However, following a collision with Sebastian Vettel at the Russian Grand Prix, Red Bull demoted him back to Toro Rosso, replacing him with Max Verstappen from the Spanish Grand Prix onward.
Kvyat returned to Toro Rosso alongside Carlos Sainz Jr.. According to team principal Christian Horner, the move was intended to allow Kvyat to "continue his development at Toro Rosso, in a team that he is familiar with, giving him the chance to regain his form." Kvyat was re-signed for 2017 after strong mid-season performances, but his 2017 season was disrupted by multiple technical failures and driver errors. On 26 September 2017, Toro Rosso announced he would be replaced for the Malaysian Grand Prix by Pierre Gasly. Kvyat briefly returned for the United States Grand Prix following Sainz's move to Renault, but the arrangement was not extended. It was confirmed by Helmut Marko that Kvyat would not return to Toro Rosso and would be released from the Red Bull driver development programme.
After failing to secure a race seat for 2018, Kvyat became a development driver for Ferrari, working primarily in the simulator at Maranello. He drove the Ferrari SF71H at Fiorano during a Pirelli wet weather test in April 2018.
Kvyat rejoined Toro Rosso for 2019, replacing the Red Bull-bound Pierre Gasly and initially partnering Thai driver Alexander Albon. He achieved six points finishes from twelve races in the first half of the season. His third career podium came at the rain-affected 2019 German Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring, where a strategy call to pit for dry-weather tyres ahead of the field — combined with an overtake on Lance Stroll — brought him to third. This was also Toro Rosso's first podium since winning the 2008 Italian Grand Prix. When Albon was promoted to Red Bull during the summer break, some questioned the decision not to promote Kvyat. Kvyat finished the season thirteenth with 37 points, though he was penalised for causing last-lap collisions in Mexico and the United States.
AlphaTauri (formerly Toro Rosso) retained Kvyat alongside Pierre Gasly for 2020. He finished fourth at the 2020 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix after overtaking Alexander Albon, Sergio Pérez, and Charles Leclerc following a safety car restart. Kvyat finished the season fourteenth with 32 points, compared to team-mate Gasly's 75. His contract was not renewed and Yuki Tsunoda replaced him for 2021.
In 2021 Kvyat served as reserve driver for Alpine alongside Zhou Guanyu.
Kvyat was due to compete for G-Drive Racing in the LMP2 class in the 2022 WEC alongside James Allen and Rene Binder, but G-Drive withdrew in March 2022 following sanctions imposed by the FIA after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Kvyat publicly called the restrictions "unfair and discriminatory."
In 2023, Kvyat joined Prema Racing in the LMP2 class, driving the No. 63 Oreca 07 alongside Mirko Bortolotti and Doriane Pin under an Italian licence. He scored his first WEC podium on debut with a third at the 1000 Miles of Sebring. At the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Kvyat crashed out in the Porsche Curves during the night. The No. 63 Prema finished eighth in the teams' standings.
For 2024, Kvyat joined Lamborghini in the Hypercar class, driving the SC63 alongside Mirko Bortolotti and Edoardo Mortara. The trio scored their first points of the season at Le Mans, finishing tenth overall. Lamborghini finished as the worst-placed full-time manufacturer in the championship.
Lamborghini switched to IMSA endurance races for 2025. Kvyat's best result across four starts in the SC63 was fourth at Petit Le Mans alongside Mortara and Romain Grosjean. Lamborghini subsequently paused its top-class commitments.
In 2026, Kvyat made his Super GT debut in the GT300 class driving a Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 for the JLOC team alongside series veteran Takashi Kogure. At the season opener in Okayama, he advanced from fourteenth to sixth during the closing stint with an overtake on Hiroki Yoshida.
Kvyat made three starts in the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series for Team Hezeberg, racing with his familiar number 26. His debut came at the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, where he finished 36th after retiring with suspension issues.
In April 2023, Kvyat took part in the Berlin rookie drivers' test with NIO 333 Racing and returned for the rookie practice session at the Rome ePrix. In 2025, he was chosen by the DS Penske Formula E Team for the Jeddah ePrix rookie free practice session, finishing fifth.
Kvyat was born in Ufa, Bashkortostan, to parents Vyacheslav and Zulfiya Kvyat. He chose racing number 26 for his Formula One career as a number he had no prior connection to and wanted to make his own. His hobbies include table tennis, football, wakeboarding, and skiing. He lists Metallica's "Whiskey in the Jar" cover and Motörhead's "Ace of Spades" as his two favourite songs. In January 2017, Kvyat began dating Kelly Piquet, daughter of three-time F1 World Champion Nelson Piquet; the couple's daughter was born in July 2019 and they separated in December 2019.
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