‘It wasn’t easy I had to adapt,’ Zhou Guanyu reveals his struggles after the near-death experience in Silverstone in 2022

Zhou Guanyu crashed at the start of the British GP at the Silverstone Circuit in 2022, he revealed it wasn't easy for him after the incident.

‘It wasn’t easy I had to adapt,’ Zhou Guanyu reveals his struggles after the near-death experience in Silverstone in 2022

Zhou Guanyu. Image via SportsPro Media.

Zhou Guanyu did not have a good start to the 2023 season. He finished P16 in the Bahrain GP. Things got better in round 2 at Jeddah, though he did not finish in points, he improved to P13. Zhou scored points finally in the third round of the 2023 Formula 1 season at the Australian GP. The Alfa Romeo driver finished 9th and took home 2 points. It was a good result for the team after a chaotic race.

Zhou Guanyu opened up about his 2022 season. The 23-year-old met with a horrific accident at the Silverstone GP.  He was clipped by the Mercedes driver George Russell. And as a result of that, Zhou’s Alfa Romeo flipped over and moved at a high speed across the gravel. The halo was smashed repeatedly. His car then struck the barriers and finally came to a halt between the fence and the barriers. Thankfully, Zhou Guanyu survived the life-threatening crash. He credited the “Halo” for saving his life.

Zhou Guanyu told Total Motorsports.com about his change in approach to racing due to his 2022 Silverstone accident. “It did a little bit, but not how I approached the weekend. I was trying to ensure I returned to where I was. But then straight after everything was new from the car and [going into] a sprint qualifying in Austria, that wasn’t an easy weekend for me, so I had to adapt. It was tough because we had a good run with two Q3s in a row, and everything was coming strong, but afterwards, I could return to where I was before Silverstone.”

Related: Gunther Steiner reveals the ‘f**king ridiculous’ cost of Mick Schumacher’s reckless crashes in 2022

Zhou Guanyu believes the upgrades will help Alfa Romeo

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Zhou Guanyu. Image via Formula 1 Wiki.

Zhou Guanyu spoke about his driving style, “There’s always quite a big difference because areas of the car always change. In [regards to] driving style, we all have to change a bit for our car. We improved some weaknesses for now, [and] I think upgrades will help and put us back in form.” He further stated that some teams got it right, and some did not.

Alfa Romeo will bring updates just like other teams throughout the season. They have a strong driver line-up. Valtteri Bottas has 10 race wins in his F1 career and 67 podiums. And Zhou Guanyu is the F3 Asian champion. The 2023 season has been quite tricky for Alfa Romeo. They had a better start to the season in 2022. However, the team still competes with the midfield and scores points. 

Alfa Romeo is currently eighth in the Formula 1 constructor’s championship. They are ahead of AlphaTauri and Williams. They are one point behind Haas. This is not a bad result for the team, as they can catch up in the upcoming races. There are 20 races to go. The break until the Azerbaijan GP might help the Switzerland-based team gain performance. 

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