{"id":525238,"date":"2026-03-07T19:18:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T19:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/525238\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T19:18:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T19:18:12","slug":"alex-albon-reveals-tough-reality-of-australia-china-japan-f1-stint-it-destroys-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/525238\/","title":{"rendered":"Alex Albon reveals “tough” reality of Australia\u2013China\u2013Japan F1 stint: “It destroys you”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alex Albon<\/a> and Carlos Sainz<\/a> have branded the start of the Formula 1 season as “tough” as they discussed the reality of travelling from Australia to China, back to Europe, and then out to Japan.<\/p>\n

The Australian Grand Prix kicks off the 2026 season this weekend and is part of a double-header with the Chinese Grand Prix, meaning the F1 paddock will pack up after the grand prix in Melbourne and head straight to Shanghai for next week’s race.<\/p>\n

This will be followed by a week off from racing, where the teams and drivers will head back to their headquarters in Europe before flying out to Suzuka for the Japanese Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

“You know what is interesting about Melbourne being the first race is that it’s not great for our body clock,” Albon said during the Williams<\/a> Team Torque podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“So if you can imagine, the first three races recently have been Melbourne, China, a week off and then Japan. And in that process, obviously, Melbourne’s a big shift in terms of time zone. We go to China, that’s fine. That week off, we go back to the UK, have this middle ground of jet lag.<\/p>\n

“And then by the time you get used to the jet lag of Europe, you’re back off to Japan again and then back to Europe again.”<\/p>\n

\"Isack <\/p>\n

Isack Hadjar, Red Bull Racing, Alexander Albon, Williams<\/p>\n

Photo by: Sam Bagnall \/ Sutton Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Albon’s team-mate Sainz interjected, saying: “And then Miami on the other side,” before Albon continued: “The beginning of the season is immediately gone. It destroys you, which is interesting. I think I’m sure it’s the same for everyone in the paddock, but it’s a tough way to start the season. It’s something where you really do have to be on top of your sleep.”<\/p>\n

Albon and Sainz will start the Australian Grand Prix from 15th and 21st on the grid, respectively.<\/p>\n

Photos from Australian GP – Saturday<\/p>\n

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\"George<\/p>\n


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\"Arvid<\/p>\n


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\"Fans\"\/<\/p>\n


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\"Guenther<\/p>\n


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\"Oliver<\/p>\n


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\"Alexandra<\/p>\n


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\"Alexander<\/p>\n


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\"Arvid<\/p>\n


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\"Arvid<\/p>\n


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\"Jackie<\/p>\n


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\"Gabriel<\/p>\n


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\"Oscar<\/p>\n


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\"Max<\/p>\n


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\"Flavio<\/p>\n


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\"Lance<\/p>\n


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\"Gabriel<\/p>\n


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\"Max<\/p>\n


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\"Fans<\/p>\n


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\"Nico<\/p>\n


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\"Max<\/p>\n


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\"Carmen<\/p>\n


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\"Esteban<\/p>\n


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\"Nico<\/p>\n


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\"Fernando<\/p>\n


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\"Max<\/p>\n


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\"Oscar<\/p>\n


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\"Gabriel<\/p>\n


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\"George<\/p>\n


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\"Max<\/p>\n


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\"Oscar<\/p>\n


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\"Fernando<\/p>\n


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\"Isack<\/p>\n


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\"George<\/p>\n


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\"Nico<\/p>\n


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\"Max<\/p>\n


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\"Alexander<\/p>\n


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\"Lando<\/p>\n


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\"Valtteri<\/p>\n


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\"Oliver<\/p>\n


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\"Andrea<\/p>\n


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\"Andrea<\/p>\n


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\"Andrea<\/p>\n


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\"Car<\/p>\n


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\"Gabriel<\/p>\n


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\"Carlos<\/p>\n


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\"Isack<\/p>\n


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\"Lando<\/p>\n


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\"George<\/p>\n


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\"Liam<\/p>\n


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\"Isack<\/p>\n


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\"Lewis<\/p>\n


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\"Oscar<\/p>\n


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\"Oscar<\/p>\n


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\"Andrea<\/p>\n


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\"George<\/p>\n


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\"George<\/p>\n


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\"Isack<\/p>\n


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\"Isack<\/p>\n


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\"George<\/p>\n


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\"Charles<\/p>\n


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\"Isack<\/p>\n


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\"George<\/p>\n


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\n Australian GP – Saturday, in photos
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– The Motorsport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz have branded the start of the Formula 1 season as “tough” as they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":525239,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[14203,261369,64,63,27784,4971,817,259149,813,816,85,1511,819],"class_list":{"0":"post-525238","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-alex-albon","9":"tag-alex-albon-reveals-tough-reality-of-australiau2013chinau2013japan-f1-stint-it-destroys-you","10":"tag-au","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-australian-gp","13":"tag-carlos-sainz","14":"tag-f1","15":"tag-f1-australian-grand-prix","16":"tag-formula-1","17":"tag-formula1","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-trendingteam","20":"tag-williams"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=525238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/525239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=525238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=525238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=525238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}