Albon: China Grand Prix omission an advantage to drivers

Alex Albon is hoping to use the in-season gap caused by China dropping from the F1 calendar as an opportunity to ‘understand the car more.’

The third race of the season will take place in Melbourne on April 2, and China was supposed to follow two weeks later. But ongoing Covid concerns have meant that the race has been removed from the calendar altogether.

That means the season doesn't recommence until Azerbaijan at the end of the same month, which is the biggest gap until the mid-season break in August.

And Albon, driving for Williams next season, is hoping to use the break to learn more about his car and spend time making improvements.

Speaking at the car launch, he said: “We can discover where we need to improve and start building parts. There’s not too much about it. I think, more than anything, driving-wise, it’s not a big deal.

“We spend three or four months out of the driving seat before we drive next week [in pre-season testing] but the bigger thing is it means we have time to understand the car more.

“Especially at the start of a year when you’re flying around the world and as the race team goes, we’re not at the factory that much, but you can use that break as downtime to really see where the car is from Bahrain to Melbourne and try to use that time effectively, to understand the car.

“Of course, that starts straight away in Bahrain but it just gives you a little bit more downtime to focus on the stuff behind the scenes.”

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