The star rookie of F1 2014 so far

After another strong showing from Daniel Ricciardo in the Chinese Grand Prix, it was inevitable that Red Bull junior programme boss Helmut Marko would be asked about the Australian's progress.

As you'd expect, he was effusive about the 24-year-old's strong start. But he was keen to point out that Ricciardo's successor at Scuderia Toro Rosso had also done a good job.

"That's one surprise and it's very positive," he said of Ricciardo. "And the other is [Daniil] Kvyat."

He's absolutely right to highlight the strength of the Russian's start. Kvyat does not turn 20 until Saturday, yet he is not only the youngest world championship point-scorer in history, but has scored in three of his four starts as a teenager.

Some will argue that points are cheap in contemporary F1 as they are awarded to the top 10, but the reliability rate in the 21st century means that they are as difficult to earn as they have ever been.

Equally, the comparison to team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne, who has also made a good start to the season, is distorted by the fact that the Frenchman's car is 7-8kg overweight thanks to his build. But even so, it has been a great start for Kvyat.

Kvyat and Magnussen have made impressive starts to their F1 careers © XPB

McLaren's Kevin Magnussen has drawn the most attention of the three newcomers thanks to his excellent second place in Australia, and Marcus Ericsson has been respectable enough in difficult circumstances for Caterham, but Kvyat has been the rookie of the year based on the four races staged so far.

Magnussen has also impressed and has a bright future, but Kvyat's assuredness and consistency in a car that is only a marginal top 10 runner suggests he is a driver with serious prospects.

When Kvyat landed the drive, one of the factors Marko cited as key to his promotion was the young Russian's mindset. Last year, there were three juniors on Red Bull's books that could realistically be considered for promotion to F1, Kvyat, Carlos Sainz Jr and Antonio Felix da Costa. As Marko pointed out, all three of them had troubles during the season, but it was Kvyat that responded best to them.

That no-nonsense approach, unusual in such a young driver, has served him well this year. Prior to the start of the season, he had only 775kms in pre-season testing driving the STR9. That, on top of 129kms in the 2013 car at Silverstone last year (which ended up with him in the gravel) was the sum total of his F1 experience prior to Melbourne.

He bolstered that experience with a further 362kms of running in the post-Bahrain test. And that, on top of the running completed during his four race weekends, is the sum total of his mileage. On top of that, he didn't race at GP2/Formula Renault 3.5 level, winning GP3 last year and turning in some strong performances in a campaign in European F3.

The thing that is perhaps most impressive about Kvyat is his attitude. Pre-season, he was determined not to let his lack of experience stand as a convenient excuse for any lack of performance.

He was in F1 to race, not to drive about with metaphorical stabilisers on while learning on the job. As he puts it: "I'm taking it as a normal series". He is determined to outperform Vergne not just occasionally, but all the time and isn't content if he's behind.

Kvyat arrived in Melbourne with little knowledge of the STR9 © LAT

Crucially, he tends not to talk up what he has achieved, but highlight where he needs to improve. That's a very positive sign for any driver.

The best in the business focus on the fractions of a per cent they don't get right, rather than the majority that they do. That's a mentality Kvyat appears to share.

He's needed that fortitude as well, because F1 isn't just a normal series. At this level, the pressure to deliver is intense, every mistake magnified.

Kvyat headed to Australia having little idea of how the car really felt. During testing, he had one, still troubled, day during which he was really able to press on and during Friday practice in Melbourne he looked all at sea. Some would not have recovered.

But after some intensive work with the team on set-up, he was able to make Q3 in wet conditions on Saturday. That was a superb achievement, although he did then crash during the final 12-minute top 10 shootout. But if you are going to make a rookie error, it might as well be in Q3.

In the race, he drove excellently and followed home team-mate Vergne. He followed that up with 10th in Malaysia, albeit after getting caught up with Fernando Alonso during qualifying, an incident that the stewards rightly deemed not to be the fault of either driver.

What was particularly impressive there was that he did suffer physically in the race, but his lap times didn't.

Again, in Bahrain, he qualified solidly, although beating Vergne on Saturday was flattering not only because of the weight advantage, but because the Frenchman's fuel flow had to be knocked back significantly when the fuel-flow sensor reading shifted unexpectedly.

Kvyat is happy to take on the veterans of the sport © LAT

During the race, Kvyat was in the mix for a point but was a little rash while scrapping with Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari. It was a small error, and one he got away with, allowing him to go on to finish 11th.

Then, in China, Kvyat was a little disappointed not to make Q3 and complained of the balance not being quite right, but ended up with another point for tenth after passing Jenson Button along the way.

While there have been some bumps in the road, for a driver who doesn't hit his 20s until Saturday, that's a very encouraging start.

He has impressed his team with his attitude as well, showing a good capacity to learn and not to let his head drop when things get difficult.

Four races does not make a career, and Kvyat clearly needs to kick on from here. But as far as starts to careers go, this has been hugely encouraging.

Not bad at all for a driver who so many decried the appointment of when he was confirmed as a Toro Rosso driver last year. It seems that the Red Bull junior scheme, so often maligned, isn't in such bad shape after all.