 Daniil Kvyat and Max Verstappen traded places ahead of the race . Verstappen joined Red Bull Racing while Kvyat returned to <unk> Toro Rosso . Red Bull 's team principal Christian Horner explained the driver swap with Verstappen 's talent , saying that the 18 @-@ year old Dutchman and Daniel Ricciardo had the potential to become Formula One 's best driver pairing . Furthermore , he stressed that Verstappen 's move to Red Bull would tie him to the team for the foreseeable future . Daniil Kvyat meanwhile expressed surprise at the decision , saying during Thursday 's press conference that he was " shocked " by his demotion , stressing that Red Bull did not give him a " real explanation " . Following problems with his power unit in both the Chinese and Russian Grand Prix , Lewis Hamilton received a redesigned <unk> @-@ H unit , in a bid to solve the troubles which hampered him earlier . However , Mercedes was unable to guarantee that the problem would not appear again . 
