‘It’s up to me to show my skills in Formula 1,” Zhou cannot wait to make much anticipated Alfa Romeo debut

Guanyu Zhou

Guanyu Zhou, a Chinese racing driver will make history when he will sit behind the wheels of Alfa Romeo in Bahrain on the 2022 F1 grid for being the first Chinese driver ever in F1. The 22-year-old will be competing alongside Valtteri Bottas as his team-mate who left Mercedes over the winter. Zhou has competed in the FIA Formula 2 Championship for the UNI-Virtuosi Racing from 2019-2021, finishing P3 in the 2021 campaign.

Alfa Romeo have certainly observed the price that having Formula 1`s first Chinese motive force does for sponsorship income but Zhou isn’t becoming a member of the Swiss crew with no racing pedigree, as he has claimed 4 race wins in Formula 2 for the duration of 2021, and returned in 2019 becoming the primary recipient of the Anthoine Hubert Award for high-quality rookie. Hence, Zhou desires to take away his `pay motive force` by means of proving his cap potential at Formula One.

Guanyu Zhou talks about his journey to F1

Zhou was born in Shanghai, China and in 2012 he moved to Sheffield, England to race in a more competitive karting environment. The early stages of his life were tough with karting but he preserved and has now been rewarded with a seat on the F1 grid for the 2022 season.

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“I moved to England in 2012. Everything is different from China,” Zhou explained.

“It’s difficult to settle in because first you have to learn the language to understand anything at all. It was also hard from a sporting point of view, because the level on the race track is much higher in Europe. I had to learn a lot. It was especially complicated at the beginning, because the results I was hoping for didn’t come immediately and another thing…I lacked a role model from China who could have shown me the right way to Formula 1.”

“It was never easy for the rookie as no one in his country had gone this far and now he had to choose his own path without knowing the right direction with a constant battle of the right or the wrong within himself by always proving himself,” he added.

“No one from my country had gone this way before, my family and I had to find the right path ourselves. It was more of a rollercoaster ride than a constant bath of happiness. I really had to make a lot of sacrifices to get into Formula 1. My parents are now very proud that I achieved my goal.“

“In China, it is very difficult to get to where I am now. I had to chase this dream with full commitment at a very young age. My risk of not making it to Formula 1 was 80 percent.“

“I always had to prove myself in Formula 4, Formula 3 and Formula 2, I had to win races and race for the title.”

The only rookie on the grid for the 2022 F1 season is looking forward to earning some points on the leader board for the upcoming season and it will be very exciting to see how the results pan out.

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