‘They could not imagine a Chinese driver’
Zhou Guanyu recalls early challenges in motor racing as home grand prix looms
Zhou Guanyu has described the challenges he faced as a Chinese motor racing driver, from cutting his teeth in karts to moving through the ranks after relocating to England as a child.
Formula One’s first Chinese driver was speaking ahead of his home grand prix, which returns to the Shanghai International Circuit for the first time in five years next weekend.
It marks a belated return to the city of Zhou’s birth, having been postponed and later cancelled in 2020 because of the outbreak of Covid-19, with the following three years’ races also scrapped.
Appearing at an event in Shanghai yesterday, Zhou said he was looking forward to his hometown debut, and reflected on how far he had come. “I remember when I was racing for my first championship in Europe [the Rotax Max Challenge Euro] and there was no national anthem or national flag on the podium after winning,” the 24-year-old said.
“They couldn’t imagine that one day there would be a Chinese driver, let alone a champion.”
Zhou started karting in China when he was eight but moved to Sheffield, England in 2012. One year later Zhou joined the city’s Strawberry Racing team, winning both the Super 1 National Rotax Max Junior Championship and the Rotax Max Challenge Euro.
In 2015, Zhou started racing in Formula 4 for one year before graduating to Formula 3, where he stayed for three seasons. “The three years in F3 were pretty hard because the car choices were not ideal and led to [some doubts],” Zhou said. “Moving to F1 was unimaginable because competition was so fierce, [and] not just the European drivers.”
Zhou raced in Formula 2 from 2019 to 2021, but during the winter break before the start of the 2021 season, he won the 2021 F3 Asian Championship driving for Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema.
In 2022, Zhou finally moved into Formula One, racing for Alfa Romeo, and in his first two years finished 18th overall.
“I still remember the first time I drove an F1 car, it was a practice car in 2021,” Zhou said. “It was Fernando Alonso’s car, in 2004 and 2005, I never would have expected to have the opportunity to drive his car.” Zhou currently races for Kick Sauber.