Daniil Kvyat says he was asking too much of himself in the races following his demotion to Toro Rosso and only now is he recovering to the level he wants to be at.
Kvayt was dropped from the senior Red Bull team ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix in May, resulting in a return to Toro Rosso where he started his career in 2014. In that time he has scored just two points compared to teammate Carlos Sainz's 26 and admits he has been nowhere near his best.
"After all these things happened I think I was trying to prove myself a bit too much and trying to ask too much of myself and it was not possible. When you do this you usually tense up and that's not good because you cannot go over your own capacity.
"Of course I was angry at many circumstances and tried to force things, but I cannot force things and I have to go with my instincts."
After recovering from a poor qualifying result with a strong race performance in Germany, Kvyat he would use the summer break to reset ahead of the second half of the season.
"I have been draining myself and asking things of myself that were not possible in this car; in these circumstances after I just came to the team. In Monaco and Baku it worked well [Kvyat qualified eighth and sixth respectively before technical issues in both races] and I jumped ahead of the car performance, then I felt it would be possible at the next race.
"But it's easy to drain yourself and that's what I feel like I did. Now I have a summer break and I know what to do for the next races, so that's a good thing."
Asked about his plans for the summer break, Kvyat said: "Just sleep! Just switch my phone off, that's all I want to do to be honest.
"Maybe I'll do a couple of karting days with my old team and stay in shape. Maybe I'll have a few cold beers because I can, but then I want to train again.
"I was in very good physical shape in the winter, but then I lost it again because I became demotivated. Now I want to work with my trainer again and put myself back to the real good old Dany!"