The duo first met in karting, although they belonged to different categories, as the eldest de Vries came through the ranks first.
However, they clashed in the 2018 FIA F2 Championship, which Russell won ahead of Lando Norris, Alex Albon and de Vries.
De Vries was in talks with several F1 teams about training in 2022 when his appearance as a replacement for Albon at Williams during the Italian GP propelled him to the top of the list as a potential replacement for Pierre Gasly at AlphaTauri.
“Of all the guys in karting, Nyck was the only one who didn’t make it to F1 and probably deserved to get into F1,” Russell said when asked by Autosport about the Dutchman’s graduation.
“So these five drivers, between me, Alex, Max [Verstappen]Charles [Leclerc] and Nyck, who were racing against each other at that time in 2011 and 2012, like I said, Nyck was the only one who didn’t make it, so happy to see him there.”
When asked if he rated it better after working together at Mercedes, Russell replied: “I always rated it. In karting, he was the man to beat. I’ve never raced him in karting, but of all of us he was probably the most successful in karting.
“I never wrote it down. I think to get to F1 you have to get the job done at the right time when there’s an opportunity on the grid, and sometimes those stars don’t align.
“But with the number of stars aligned at Monza, it probably made up for the misfortune of a few years ago.”
Nyck de Vries, Williams FW44, Zhou Guanyu, Alfa Romeo C42, Carlos Sainz, Ferrari F1-75
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
De Vries will turn 28 at the start of next season, and Russell admitted he was intrigued to see how he would fare after gaining so much experience in other categories.
“Certainly intrigued to see how he’ll do,” Russell said. “I have no doubts about his performance. He has every chance of being a great F1 driver. I’m sure he’ll do just fine.
Former F2 rival Norris agreed De Vries deserved his chance.
“He’s clearly a very good driver,” the McLaren man said when asked about de Vries’ graduation by Autosport.
“I think he has proven that since the very beginning of karting. He’s completely dominated a lot of karting, he’s a Formula E world champion and lots of other things. He is therefore a high-level pilot.
“Obviously he deserves it, he did a good job at Monza when he sat out. He proved his worth, and we’ll see next year what he can do.”
