“Paddock complained that Joe could be a commercial deal for us”: Frederick Vasseur debunks the myth that Guanyu Zhou was appointed by Alfa Romeo for money
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Fred Vasseur and Guanyu Zhou
The recruitment of Guanyu Zhou to partner with former Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas in Alfa Romeo Racing was a decision that had received mixed reactions from people both inside and outside the F1 paddocks. While noone doubted the skill and experience of Bottas as he got appointed as the leading racer for the team, many believed that choosing Guanyu Zhou was a decision that was heavily influenced by monetary reasons.
Now, Alfa Romeo Head Frederick Vasseur has discussed what led them to employ the young Chinese as their second racer in the Swiss team, and he also clarified the fact that it was not financial reasons that led to the hiring of Guanyu Zhou.
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Frederick Vasseur sets the record straight about why Alfa Romeo did not hire Guanyu Zhou just for financial reasons
For the past few seasons, with Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi at the helm, Alfa Romeo has not been able to perform that well, but they had some big plans for 2022. For this season, the Swiss team decided to go with Valtteri Bottas and F1 debutante Guanyu Zhou. Zhou is a Chinese racer who is backed by many sponsors who would bring money to the team for him, and he has also got the support of the massive Chinese population as well. Naturally, many onlookers were of the opinion that Guanyu’s appointment to Alfa Romeo had been the result of many financial reasons.
But Frederick Vasseur mentioned that they did not take in Zhou because of the money that he would bring to the team. He said, “Yes, we had negative comments, and I think it was completely unfair, Joe [Zhou] did pretty well in F2, he got pole positions, he won races.”
He also mentioned, “You don’t have to make these kind of bullshit comments after something like this. The paddock complained about the fact that Joe could be a commercial deal for us. But everybody has f***ing commercial deals! We are in a business, and we want to develop the business.”
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Riddhi Mondal
(1821 Articles Published)