Red Bull and Kvyat penalised for unsafe Belgian GP pitlane release

Kvyat has also been handed his second reprimand of the year by the stewards, after being found guilty of an unsafe release from his pitbox at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, into the path of Sauber's Felipe Nasr.

It leaves the young Russian one further reprimand away from being handed an automatic 10-place grid penalty should he offend again this season.

In punishing Red Bull and Kvyat in Belgium the stewards noted: "Car 26 [Kvyat] was released as car 12 [Nasr] was approaching. In addition the driver did not pay sufficient attention."

On the positive side for Kvyat and Red Bull, he and team-mate Daniel Ricciardo finished fourth and third respectively on the timsheets.

Ricciardo was three quarters of a second behind pacesetter Nico Rosberg in his Mercedes, with Kvyat a further quarter of a second adrift.

Given engine supplier Renault has previously struggled for power, it would appear the French manufacturer has made some gains, especially after Kvyat and Ricciardo finished second and third in Hungary last time out.

Assessing his pace, Kvyat said: "Anything you see is more or less genuine, for today at least.

"Tomorrow you never know, so we'll try to do our homework well, to improve our package, our driveability, and see what we can do.

"I'm obviously hoping for back-to-back podiums. Looking at today I wouldn't mind at all, but you never know what can happen on a Sunday, and with our engine situation we have to compromise a lot."

Reigning champion in Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton has suggested Red Bull could be more of a threat this weekend.

Kvyat added: "It's good he feels some threat from someone else other than his team-mate finally.

"We'll see, but history has shown us they [Mercedes] often find a bit more pace."

As to whether Red Bull may have turned a corner, Kvyat replied: "Hopefully. The last few events have been better for us and we are starting to climb this steep hill."