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Nyck de Vries: Alex Albon and Lando Norris are not better than me

Nyck de Vries: "Alex Albon and Lando Norris are not better than me"

01-02-2019 10:38
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Nicolás Quarles van Ufford

Once dubbed as the next big thing in racing, Nyck de Vries has yet to make the leap from Formula 2 to Formula 1, even though the Dutchman doesn't think the likes of Lando Norris and Alex Albon are any better than him.

Anyone who follows the world of karting knows how dominant de Vries was in those days. He looked invincible at times, and McLaren came calling for him for their youth program.

He climbed his way to Formula 2, but performances fell off from there. He did win three races in 2018 but only ended fourth in the championship, behind the three drivers who earned a promotion to F1 - George Russell, Lando Norris and Alex Albon.

"He [Russell] won the most races and really was the deserved winner," de Vries told Het Friesch Dagblad.

"If you look at it on surface level, I would've made the podium too with 10 points more, and I would've been in F1 now. But a 'what-if' like that doesn't get you anything. The line between winning and losing is paper thin."

Even though de Vries thinks Russell was the deserved winner, he doesn't think that either Norris or Albon is on a level that is beyond the Dutchman.

"I don't want to come across as arrogant, but Norris and Albon weren't better than me in my eyes. Norris won just one race and Albon won four, and I won three.

"But that's in the past. I want to take revenge this year and challenge for the title with ART. Then I can get the opportunity [to get into F1]. You never have any guarantees in life, but if you look at the statistics you can assume so. The system wouldn't work if the champion doesn't get the promotion to F1."