Born in Ufa and raised from the age of six in Moscow, Kvyat began competitive kart racing at the age of ten. He moved to Italy in 2007 to pursue a professional karting career, joining several teams before finding success with Morsicani Racing. With Morsicani he won multiple WSK rounds, the Bridgestone Cup, and the Trofeo delle Industrie, defeating future motorsport names including Nyck de Vries and Antonio Giovinazzi. Red Bull took notice and signed him to the Red Bull Junior Team in 2009 following a shared test alongside Carlos Sainz Jr.
Progressing to single-seaters in 2010, Kvyat raced in Formula BMW, then moved to Formula Renault 2.0 with Koiranen in 2011 and 2012. In 2012 he claimed 23 victories across the Alps Series and the Eurocup, winning the Alps title after a last-round decider at Barcelona while finishing runner-up to Stoffel Vandoorne in the Eurocup. He then won the GP3 Series in his rookie 2013 season with MW Arden, clinching the title at Abu Dhabi with a dominant weekend of pole, win, and fastest lap. Helmut Marko offered him a Formula One contract on the back of this performance.
Kvyat replaced Daniel Ricciardo at Scuderia Toro Rosso for 2014. He made his F1 debut at the Australian Grand Prix aged 19, finishing ninth and becoming the then-youngest points-scorer in Formula One history, breaking the record previously held by Sebastian Vettel. He finished fifteenth in the 2014 World Championship.
Promoted to Red Bull Racing to replace Vettel for 2015, Kvyat claimed his first podium with a second-place finish at the Hungarian Grand Prix, the highest result by a Russian driver in F1 at that time. He ended 2015 seventh in the Drivers' Championship with 95 points, outscoring his teammate Daniel Ricciardo by three points. He retained his Red Bull seat for 2016 and secured another podium — third place in China. However, a collision with Sebastian Vettel at the Russian Grand Prix prompted Red Bull to demote him mid-season in favour of Max Verstappen.
Kvyat returned to Toro Rosso from the Spanish Grand Prix onward in 2016 and was retained for 2017, but the season proved difficult, marked by technical failures and inconsistent results. He was stood down mid-season in favour of Pierre Gasly and subsequently released from the Red Bull programme entirely.
Without a race seat for 2018, Kvyat became a development driver for Ferrari, working primarily in the simulator at Maranello and taking part in a Pirelli wet-weather test at Fiorano.
Kvyat returned to the renamed team for 2019 alongside Alexander Albon. He delivered some of his strongest performances, including a shock third-place podium at the rain-affected German Grand Prix — Toro Rosso's first podium since the 2008 Italian Grand Prix — achieved via a well-timed pit stop for dry tyres and an overtake on Lance Stroll. He finished thirteenth in the 2019 championship with 37 points. In 2020 he finished a strong fourth at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix but was ultimately replaced by Yuki Tsunoda at the season's end. He departed as the most successful Russian driver in Formula One history, with three podiums and one fastest lap across his six seasons.
After serving as Alpine's reserve driver in 2021, Kvyat was set to race in the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship with G-Drive, but the team withdrew following sanctions related to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. He returned to WEC in 2023 with Prema Racing in LMP2, earning a podium on debut at the 1000 Miles of Sebring. In 2024 he stepped up to the premier Hypercar class with Lamborghini, driving the SC63 alongside Mirko Bortolotti and Edoardo Mortara. The programme moved to IMSA for 2025, where Kvyat's best finish was fourth at Petit Le Mans. In 2026 he made his Super GT debut in the GT300 class for JLOC, driving a Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2 alongside Takashi Kogure. He also made three NASCAR Cup Series starts in 2022 for Team Hezeberg, using his F1 racing number 26, and participated in several Formula E rookie tests between 2023 and 2026.
Kvyat resides in Monaco and is fluent in Russian, Italian, Spanish, and English. He chose the racing number 26 for his F1 career with no prior connection to it, intending to make it his own. He has cited Metallica and Motörhead among his musical influences.
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