{"id":79361,"date":"2025-08-19T07:33:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T07:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/79361\/"},"modified":"2025-08-19T07:33:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T07:33:08","slug":"alex-albon-admits-he-loves-hardcore-circuit-thats-simply-way-too-narrow-to-be-a-formula-1-track","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/79361\/","title":{"rendered":"Alex Albon admits he loves \u2018hardcore\u2019 circuit that\u2019s simply \u2018way too narrow\u2019 to be a Formula 1 track"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>With 24 races on the Formula 1 calendar, each weekend presents a new set of challenges for drivers.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.f1oversteer.com\/tag\/alex-albon\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Alex Albon<\/a> has 118 Grand Prix starts to his name, having made his debut with Toro Rosso in 2019.<\/p>\n<p>A move to Red Bull followed by a one-season hiatus eventually led to a move to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.f1oversteer.com\/tag\/williams\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Williams<\/a>, where he\u2019s quickly closing in on becoming their most experienced driver.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.f1oversteer.com\/drivers\/2025-formula-1-driver-contract-wage-expire-hamilton-verstappen-norris-and-more\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Albon has a Williams contract that runs until at least the end of 2026<\/a>, which by then would see him overtake Ralf Schumacher and Nigel Mansell and become the first driver in Formula 1 history to reach a century of races with the team.<\/p>\n<p>DRIVERGRAND PRIX STARTSNigel Mansell95Ralf Schumacher94Riccardo Patrese81Alex Albon80*Felipe Massa78F1 drivers with the most Grand Prix starts for Williams<\/p>\n<p>In that time, he\u2019s raced at plenty of different tracks, and some stand out more than others.<\/p>\n<p>He might wish Mugello would return after its one-off event in 2020, as it\u2019s where he earned his first F1 podium.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.f1oversteer.com\/news\/alex-albons-dream-circuit-now-furthest-down-the-line-to-join-the-formula-1-calendar\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Thailand is pushing to host an F1 race soon<\/a>, which would allow Albon to experience what many other drivers enjoy during the season of the backing of a home crowd.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s now admitted that a \u2018ridiculous\u2019 circuit on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.f1oversteer.com\/formula-1-calendar\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">2025 F1 calendar<\/a> might be too narrow to properly race at, but he still loves it anyway.<\/p>\n<p>READ MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.f1oversteer.com\/drivers\/who-is-alex-albon-life-outside-of-f1-from-net-worth-girlfriend-to-parents\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Williams star Alex Albon\u2019s life outside F1 with net worth, girlfriend to parents<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2167760556-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Williams driver Alex Albon racing at the Dutch Grand Prix\" class=\"wp-image-131580\" \/>Photo by Jonathan Raa\/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesAlex Albon says Zandvoort is \u2018way too narrow\u2019 to be a Formula 1 circuit<\/p>\n<p>Albon was asked on the P1 with Matt and Tommy Podcast to rank different circuits, and Imola against Zandvoort was the first match-up.<\/p>\n<p>The Williams driver explained when talking about the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.f1oversteer.com\/tag\/dutch-grand-prix\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dutch Grand Prix<\/a>: \u201cI can\u2019t take too long to choose, but I would say personally speaking, I like Zandvoort.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s hardcore. It\u2019s way too narrow to be a Formula 1 track, but that\u2019s what makes it good.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes, it seems ridiculous what we\u2019re doing, and I\u2019m all for it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Going into the next round, Albon then admitted that he preferred Zandvoort over Interlagos.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t like Brazil,\u201d Albon admitted. The Thai driver continued: \u201cI find it, even though we just said Zandvoort\u2019s kind of like a go-kart track, Brazil feels like that.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it\u2019s because these cars are so heavy now, and they lose so much downforce in low-speed corners. It feels like you\u2019re turning a bus around a track. It\u2019s just so lazy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think in a lot of corners, you can do different lines.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Albon then chose Zandvoort over the Canadian Grand Prix, before it eventually lost out to the Circuit of the Americas.<\/p>\n<p>READ MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.f1oversteer.com\/races\/five-unforgettable-dutch-grand-prix-from-james-hunts-first-win-to-alain-prost-and-nelson-piquet-drama\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Five unforgettable Dutch Grand Prix including Prost and Piquet\u2019s drama<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Formula 1 preparing to say goodbye to the Dutch Grand Prix after the 2026 season<\/p>\n<p>F1 has reached 24 race weekends in a season, and while the current Concorde Agreement allows a 25th event to be added to the calendar, Formula One Group chief Stefano Domenicali has ruled out that possibility at this stage.<\/p>\n<p>It means that for any new circuits to be added to the schedule, a current track needs to drop off.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.f1oversteer.com\/features\/four-tracks-wed-love-to-see-replace-zandvoort-as-f1-confirms-final-dutch-grand-prix\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Zandvoort will lose its permanent spot on the F1 calendar in 2026<\/a>, with Imola disappearing this year, and Barcelona heading in the same direction.<\/p>\n<p>                      Friday 29th August to Sunday 31st August<br \/>\n                          Friday 29th August 10:30   1st Practice    Friday 29th August 14:00   2nd Practice    Saturday 30th August 09:30   3rd Practice    Saturday 30th August 13:00   1st Qualifying    Saturday 30th August 13:25   2nd Qualifying    Saturday 30th August 13:48   3rd Qualifying    Sunday 31st August 13:00   Race <\/p>\n<p>Spa will become a rotational circuit in the schedule, allowing for plenty of new tracks to make their mark on the sport.<\/p>\n<p>The support Max Verstappen receives at Zandvoort has made it a particularly exciting event in recent years, even if he lost out to Lando Norris last season.<\/p>\n<p>He will want to return to winning ways in front of his home fans, but it\u2019s much more likely that two drivers wearing orange will be celebrating than the four-time world champion whose fans are synonymous with that colour around the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With 24 races on the Formula 1 calendar, each weekend presents a new set of challenges for drivers.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":79362,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[14203,64,63,15263,817,813,816,85,1803],"class_list":{"0":"post-79361","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-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-dutch-grand-prix","12":"tag-f1","13":"tag-formula-1","14":"tag-formula1","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-williams-racing"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79361","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=79361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79361\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}