The essentials in Alex Albon’s life

The life of a Formula 1 racing driver is a busy one, especially in 2023. With more races than ever before that sees them compete across five continents, there are some things they just cannot live without.

In a recent interview with GQ Sports, Alex Albon shared the 10 essential items that he cannot go without whilst on the road.

Alex’s ability to misplace items is widely known, he even lost his car keys on his very first day at Grove in January 2022.

Thankfully for him, the rise in tracking products has given him a simple solution to keep an eye on his personal belongings – he goes so far as crediting them as “his saviour”.

Yes indeed, they’re making a comeback and Albono is leading the fashion resurgence.

He admits that he hasn’t plucked up the courage to wear them when travelling with other drivers, but we’re sure that it won’t be long before the whole paddock is wearing these on their long-haul flights.

Alex’s Crocs are adorned with a number of charms, or jibbitz, including his race number and Lightning McQueen. Ka-Chow!

The burritos are on Alex with his Celebrity Card, entitling him to unlimited food from the Mexican grill restaurant chain.

It’s up in the air as to how regularly Alex can use the card, with his trainer, Patrick Harding, potentially having a different opinion to the claim that he can eat this as much as he wants.

These are the first essential items that are crucial to Alex’s race weekend. His Paddock Pass shouldn’t need much of an explanation as he needs it to access… the paddock. And yes, he’s forgotten it a few times already.

Secondly, his notepad is “really important” to him. He uses it to keep notes ahead of every session on what he should do in terms of driving and setup in every corner, “little pointers” as he puts it.

F1 is an extremely rigorous sport, not just in terms of how fit you need to be to drive one of the cars, but also in terms of the amount of travelling involved.

Alex uses these supplements to help get his body into the best place possible before jumping into the car.

As he mentions, a lot of drivers opt to sink an Espresso before hopping into the car, but our No23 isn’t the biggest fan of coffee breath being trapped inside his helmet, so goes for caffeine gum.

Alex’s love for VR gaming spawned in the COVID-affected season of 2020, when we were travelling with quarantine measures in place.

His girlfriend, professional golfer Lily He, also has a headset so it gives them another way to connect when they are competing on opposite sides of the planet.

He also picked up a golf attachment, giving him the ability to hit the course even when he’s in his hotel room.

With the amount of travelling F1 requires, comfy clothes are a must. Alex always travels with some comfortable loungewear, as well as his fireproof underwear.

Fireproof underwear was a hot topic (sorry) in 2022, but after AA23 was struck down by appendicitis, he discovered that the material his OMP briefs are made from was incredibly comfortable on his scars. Who knew?!

“My girlfriend gives these to me and tells me I need to put these on every day.”

When you’re sitting inside a helmet and balaclava for hours each week, it’s clear to see why it’s important to look after your face and Lily makes sure that Alex is doing just that.

Alex loves his spicy food, so he carries with him Szechuan peppers made by Lily’s family to put on his eggs in the morning.

The iPad, well that’s his way of chilling out. He loves nothing more than jumping onto YouTube and watching Mark Wiens, a travel vlogger with just shy of 10m subscribers who goes on the search for some of the best street food around.

Photography is a real passion of Alex’s, and these two items are a great way to get into this art form.

Albono says he often heads out with his film camera on the days when he’s adjusting to jet lag and loves “the feeling of not knowing how the photo will turn out” until he gets it developed.