Russell, Williams boss lauds De Vries' Italian performance as deserving of F1 seat

Mercedes driver George Russell said that following Nyck de Vries' sensational race at the 2022 Italian Grand Prix, he had no doubt the Williams-Mercedes reserve driver deserved a full-time Formula 1 seat.

At short notice on Saturday, De Vries was forced to replace regular Williams racer Alex Albon after being ruled out with appendicitis. De Vries had driven for Aston Martin in the first Friday practice replacing Sebastian Vettel.

The 27-year-old De Vries managed to qualify eighth after penalties were applied to several drivers, plus he out-qualified his Williams teammate Nicholas Latifi and finished Sunday's race in ninth position.

Russell knows De Vries well, having raced against him during his junior career from the early karting days onwards. They were also both Formula 2 champions with the ART team, Russell claiming the title in 2018 and De Vries in 2019.

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High praise from Max and George for @nyckdevries's debut ??#ItalianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/ri4Hdg26TU

An opportunity is granted

In an interview after Sunday's race at Monza, Russell spoke about De Vries' excellent performance, saying: "He obviously did an excellent job … he was always one of the very best, and there's no doubt he deserves a place in F1.

"There's 20 drivers, not everybody gets an opportunity, but certainly now he's proved everything he has to."

So far, for the 2023 F1 season, Williams has only confirmed Albon as their driver, which now could leave the door open for De Vries to take over from Latifi for the upcoming season. Latifi is yet to score a point for Williams this season.

WATCH: De Vries' 'dead' shoulders, Russell's 7th podium - Best clips from the Italian