Lando Norris has been voted best rookie of the 2019 Formula One season by its fans.
Norris debuted with McLaren this year and was part of a rookie class which also included Williams’ George Russell and Red Bull’s Alex Albon. Russell beat Norris and Albon to the Formula 2 championship in 2018 before all three stepped up to the main championship.
F1 put the award to a vote this week, which it promoted with an entertaining series of videos featuring Norris, Russell and Albon arguing why they deserved it more than the other two.
It was always going to be chaos when we got @alex_albon, @LandoNorris and @GeorgeRussell63 together 😂
VOTE NOW for your Rookie of the Year! 👇
— Formula 1 (@F1) December 11, 2019
On Friday, F1 and McLaren confirmed Norris had won comfortably, with a whopping 76 percent of the vote.
🏆👏 With a whopping 76% of the public vote, @LandoNorris has been crowned @F1‘s 2019 Rookie of the Year.
Nice one, Lando! ➡️ https://t.co/HROeKilWHo pic.twitter.com/wOblBtfvn5
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) December 13, 2019
A landslide for @LandoNorris #F1https://t.co/7OZO15N8Z6
— Formula 1 (@F1) December 13, 2019
Norris enjoyed an impressive rookie campaign alongside McLaren teammate Carlos Sainz, who was another of the year’s standout performers. Albon outscored Norris and enjoyed the more dramatic rookie season, being promoted from Toro Rosso to Red Bull during the summer break with just 10 grand prix starts to his name. The Thai driver was unfairly denied a maiden podium at the Brazilian Grand Prix after being clumsily knocked into a spin by Lewis Hamilton on the penultimate lap.
Russell was the only driver not to score a point in 2019, but spent the year stuck at the back of the grid with Williams’ disappointing car. He outqualified teammate Robert Kubica 21-0, although the Polish driver managed to score a point at the German Grand Prix after both Alfa Romeos were thrown out of the race for a technical infringement.