The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Recruited by Alfa Romeo, Guanyu Zhou will become the first Chinese driver to drive a Formula 1

2021-11-16T11:27:22.603Z


He will be established alongside the Finnish Valtteri Bottas. Guanyu Zhou (22), whose Alfa Romeo team announced on Tuesday the recruitment in 2022 to replace the Italian Antonio Giovinazzi, will become the first Chinese to drive in the Formula 1 Grand Prix. His tenure alongside the Finnish Valtteri Bottas completes the starting grid for next season. A reserve driver with Alpine for the second consecutive season in 2021, Zhou took part in his first free prac


Guanyu Zhou (22), whose Alfa Romeo team announced on Tuesday the recruitment in 2022 to replace the Italian Antonio Giovinazzi, will become the first Chinese to drive in the Formula 1 Grand Prix. His tenure alongside the Finnish Valtteri Bottas completes the starting grid for next season.

A reserve driver with Alpine for the second consecutive season in 2021, Zhou took part in his first free practice session in F1 this year, during the Austrian GP.

Ma Qinghua was the last of his compatriots to have taken part in these tests, in 2012 and 2013, with the HRT and Caterham teams.

But no Chinese took the start of a Grand Prix.

“It is a pleasure to welcome Guanyu Zhou to Alfa Romeo Racing.

He is a very talented driver, as his results in F2 have shown, and we are eager to help his talent develop even more in Formula 1, ”said Fred Vasseur, team principal of the team.

Our latest signing @ gyzhou_33 has a special message for the team's fans ... 😊💬 #AlfaRomeoRacing #ORLEN #TeamZhou pic.twitter.com/4nOWsLtaVF

- Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN (@alfaromeoracing) November 16, 2021

Guanyu Zhou's journey (pronounced "Gouane-Yu Djo") to the premier class of motorsport began in 2012, when the teenager, born May 30, 1999 in Shanghai, landed in Sheffield, in the north of England. , to join a karting team.

At the heart of commercial issues

After good results in karting and in various categories of single-seaters, Zhou joined the Renault Sport Academy in 2019, the branch of the French manufacturer (now Alpine) responsible for supervising young drivers to help them progress towards F1.

For his first season in Formula 2 (the antechamber of F1) in 2019, the Chinese finished best “rookie” (beginner), finishing in seventh place with the British team UNI-Virtuosi Racing.

Last year, greatly disturbed by the Covid-19 epidemic, he won his first victory in the category, in Sochi (Russia), and finished sixth among the pilots.

This season, he is second 36 lengths behind the leader, the Australian Oscar Piastri, with two rounds (six races) still to go.

Zhou is also at the heart of important commercial issues: China, which hosted its first GP in Shanghai in 2004, is a huge market for F1 and automakers, and a local driver would undoubtedly give it a spotlight. on discipline.

Source: leparis

All sports articles on 2021-11-16

You may like

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.