Former Formula 1 driver Christijan Albers reveals which three drivers he currently considers to be the best in the premier class – Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are not among them.
Will the best driver not be world champion in the 2025 Formula 1 season? According to expert Christijan Albers, that would be the case if McLaren ended up winning the title. In his opinion, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are not among the absolute top drivers in the premier class.
In a column for De Telegraaf, published before Norris’ strong weekend in Mexico, Albers writes about McLaren: ” In my opinion, a lot is going wrong there operationally, and I don’t think the drivers are getting the most out of it either.“
”I think the lead over Verstappen [in the World Championship] should have been much bigger. That doesn’t mean that Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris are bad drivers. But I don’t think they are among the absolute best,” said the former Formula 1 driver.
“In my opinion, three drivers currently stand out: Verstappen, George Russell, and Charles Leclerc,” said Albers, who competed in Formula 1 between 2005 and 2007. He added: “With Norris, you see a clear pattern on many weekends.”
“He often starts well, but then regularly collapses. You see that regularly in qualifying. When Verstappen drives a good first lap in Q3, Norris gets nervous and makes mistakes. And everyone always says that Piastri is such a cool guy.”
“But that’s mainly about his demeanor,” Albers believes, explaining: “He had two accidents in Baku, plus a false start, and I didn’t think he was particularly strong in Singapore either.” After several months at the top of the drivers’ championship, Piastri lost the lead to Norris in Mexico.
With four races to go, the Brit is one point ahead of his teammate, while Max Verstappen, in third place in the championship, is still in with a chance of winning the title, 36 points behind Norris. According to Albers, however, Verstappen shouldn’t really be in the title race anymore.
In his opinion, the fact that his compatriot can still dream of a fifth consecutive title is also due to the fact that McLaren does not currently have the best drivers.
