A little go through of his career so far
Written by Sherlene
Published on 16 November 2021
Image via Planet F1
Even before Alfa Romeo announced themselves that Guanyu Zhou, a 22-year-old Chinese driver, will drive for the next year, pictures of Guanyu Zhou have been spotted on Alfa Romeo billboards in Shanghai his hometown, which seems to confirm his 2022 F1 seat rumour. And today 16 November 2021, Alfa Romeo officially announced he will be their 2nd driver in 2022.
Image via @SpannersReady on Twitter
Dr Helmut Marko told Swiss publication Blick
“With the great equipment, the modern wind tunnel and now a good budget, the team [Alfa Romeo] should actually move forward in 2022! With Bottas you have a very experienced man and Zhou has now shown for three years in Formula 2 he is ready for higher tasks.” As since it shows Dr Marko seems to have some internal news very early before.
Guanyu Zhou, a 22-year-old Chinese driver born in Shanghai currently competing in the FIA Formula 2 Championship for UNI-Virtuosi Racing. He is a part of the Alpine Academy and serves as a test driver for the Alpine F1 team. He was once a part of the Ferrari Driver Academy back in 2016 till 2018 and served as the development driver for Formula E team DS Techeetah in 2018.
He start his single-seater career in 2015, competing in the Italian F4 Championship and the ADAC F4 Championship with Prema Racing. After winning 3 wins and 9 podiums, he ended the season as vice-champion and best rookie, beating Robert Shwartzman and David Beckmann. He also competed in the ADAC F4 with selected rounds, achieving 2 podiums finishes.
In 2016 he joined team Motorpark FIA European F3 Championship with 2 podiums struggling to keep up with the pace in the second half of the season. In 2017 he rejoined Prema to compete again in FIA European F3 Championship but improved with 5 podium finishes and 8th in the standings. After some possibilities of competing in F2, he remained with Prema for a third season in the championship, with 2 wins and 6 podiums. Despite a strong qualifying pace in Spa and Silverstone, he suffered 4 consecutive retirements with a series of teammate collisions and tyre punctures. Zhou won his second F3 race in Hockenheim, finishing the season 8th in the standings, with 3 poles, and 2 wins.
In December 2018, he joined UNI-Virtuosi for the 2019 FIA Formula 2 Championship, he became the first Chinese driver to score an F2 pole position at Silverstone. He finished 7th in the championship and was subsequently awarded the Anthoine Hubert Award for being the highest-finishing rookie.
He remained with UNI-Virtuosi in the F2 Championship in 2020, with bad luck following him some race, he finished 6th in the championship, a place higher than his rookie season.
He continued to compete in F2 for the third year also with UNI-Virtuosi. He took pole position in the opening round at Bahrain and converted the pole to his first feature race win in F2. With currently 3 wins and 7 podiums with the season is still in progress, he is currently second in the championship.
He also competes in the F3 Asian Championship in 2021 with Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema, with 4 wins and 11 podiums, he won the championship by 257 points.
In 2014 he joined the Ferrari Driver Academy while still karting, He stayed in the Ferrari Driver Academy until the end of 2018.
In 2019, he joined the Renault Sport Academy and served as a development driver for the Renault Formula One Team.
In 2020, Zhou was promoted to Test Driver for the Renault Formula One Team. He also participated in the Virtual Grand Prix Series for Renault, an FIA launched Esports series in place of the F1 Grands Prix postponed or cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. He won the Bahrain Virtual Grand Prix, the first Virtual GP of the replacement series. However, this series did not award any points to the F1 World Championship. He, along with Oscar Piastrii and Christian Lungaard, tested the Renault R.S. 18 at the Bahrain International Circuit in 2020. At the end of 2020, he participated in the Abu Dhabi post-season test for Renault, alongside Fernando Alonso.
He made his F1 race weekend debut for the Alpine F1 Team during the first practice session of the 2021 Austrian Grand Prix, becoming the second driver from mainland China to participate in an F1 Grand Prix, after Ma Qinghua.
With such experience, especially the free practice section in Spielberg, we could expect him at some points in the Alfa Romeo. Partnering with Valtteri Bottas, the Finnish driver with currently 8 years of experience in Formula 1 could help him and give him some advice.
But also reminding that he will be a rookie, anything might happen for him and the team.
Information via Wikipedia
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