“I’ve been completely released,” Zhou Guanyu reveals he has no more ties with Alpine
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Guanyu Zhou
Alpine are currently involved in a major saga with McLaren and Oscar Piastri. After Fernando Alonso suddenly announced his departure to Aston Martin to replace Sebastian Vettel (without informing Alpine) it was rather panic mode for the French outfit. Of course, everyone assumed that Piastri would step up into the vacant seat, and that would be that. But it wasn’t that easy.
Oscar Piastri had been negotiating a move with McLaren to replace Daniel Ricciardo for 2023 – one that he intends to follow through on. But Alpine announced his move into the vacant seat without his consent, which, quite understandably, did not sit right with Piastri, who outright said that he will not be driving for Alpine next year.
This has left Alpine with the mammoth task of finding a driver to fill the void where Fernando Alonso (or Oscar Piastri) should have been. While almost any possible options will almost certainly not be ideal or even on the same level of quality as the two, they nevertheless will have to find a replacement for next year soon. Zhou Guanyu could have been one of those options, as he was part of the Alpine academy.
Also Read: “I see no reason why I shouldn’t stay,” Zhou Guanyu confident about his seat in Alfa Romeo for 2023
Zhou Guanyu: “It was a good decision to join Alfa Romeo”
Zhou Guanyu feels that his decision to leave Alpine’s academy is vindicated by the saga surrounding Oscar Piastri right now. Both drivers had raced in Formula 2 last year, with Piastri winning the championship racing for Prema while Zhou finished third for UNI-Virtuosi. But it was Zhou who got the F1 seat – by leaving Alpine, of course.
Talking to Racer about the saga and if he still has any ties with Alpine, Zhou said: “I’ve been completely released.” he further explained that he chose not to continue with Alpine at all: “So the deal was definitely not to continue with Alpine because I didn’t see anywhere I could have a seat for next year or for this year.”
He said that leaving Alpine was ‘not easy’: “And Alfa and Alpine are quite big competitor brands – not just in Formula 1 but in general – so it was not easy to get out of Alpine but I’m very happy that everything worked out well because if I had another year I’d be kind of stuck, the same now with Oscar. So it’s not the best thing for me. I feel like there was an opportunity here so I went for it, and I think it was a very good decision.”
He further revealed that upon his announcement of entering Formula 1, he was subject to racist abuse on social media.
“It’s the pressure I was handling and facing since last winter, though the last rounds of F2 all the way to here. It’s incredible. I don’t think anyone can imagine it, because I was facing the pressure of these comments and I was still racing in F2 trying to fight for the title. So that kind of took me down a little bit, but it didn’t stop me showing myself in F1 so that’s the most important thing.”
Zhou has not always had an easy time this season – he has suffered a number of mechanical retirements, 5 in 13 races in fact, which can’t be ideal in your debut season. He was also involved in a terrifying crash at the start of the British Grand Prix. He has scored points on two occasions this season and has generally driven well.
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Aniket Tripathi
(1002 Articles Published)