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Formula 1: Guanyu Zhou becomes first Chinese driver after signing with Alfa Romeo


Guanyu Zhou
Zhou has won the F2 three times this season and is second in the championship with one round left

Guanyu Zhou has become the first Chinese driver in Formula 1 after signing up for the Alfa Romeo race in 2022.

Alfa Romeo describes the Formula 2 frontrunner as a “forerunner who will write an important page in his country’s motorsport history”.

Zhou, 22, will team up with Valtteri Bottas, signed from Mercedes after veteran Kimi Raikkonen decided to retire This year.

He replaces Antonio Giovinazzi, who has raced for Alfa since 2019 but now has no place in the F1 grid next year.

Zhou, who is second in the F2 championship with three wins this season and two rounds still to go in Saudi Arabia next month, said: “I have dreamed since I was a child to be Climb as high as I can in a sport I’m passionate about and now the dream has come true.

“I feel well prepared for the huge challenge of Formula 1, the pinnacle of my sport, alongside a proven world-class talent in Valtteri Bottas.”

The move means that all F1 teams have confirmed driver lineups for 2022.

Why did Alfa sign Zhou?

Zhou was part of the Ferrari driving academy from 2014-18, and moved to join Renault’s youth driver team in 2019. He has been a test driver for the French company’s F1 team for the past two years.

He will bring with him a sizable financial package believed to be worth millions of pounds.

Principal Frederic Vasseur admitted in an exclusive interview with BBC Sport that this was a factor that led to Zhou’s signing, saying: “The financial aspect cannot be hidden.”

But he said Zhou’s talent was also an important factor.

Vasseur has pointed to his F2 victories in Bahrain and Silverstone this year as proof that he is “capable” of competing at the highest level.

“I don’t know if he will win in the end or not in F2,” Vasseur said. “But this won’t change his ability to be the frontrunner against some other seasoned lads.

“He also has the advantage that he has been able to do a number of test days this season in F1 so he has not lost mileage.”

Vasseur, who previously ran the successful ART team in grassroots categories, said he has been monitoring Zhou’s progress for a number of years.

“For China, it doesn’t make sense to bring someone along if he’s nowhere to be [on performance]. They want to be successful,” Vasseur said.

“When he started the story in F3, we said: ‘Maybe this is a potential [F1 driver]. ‘ And then he won some races in F3 Euroseries before moving on to F2, and he did well.

“The most important thing for me is that he’s a smart guy because he’s always improving year after year, always doing a better job and putting everything together.”

Zhou offers significant financial boost

Vasseur said the extra income Zhou brings to Alfa Romeo means the team will be able to operate within F1’s cost cap next season – their budget is “huge” below $145 million. la (£114m) this year, he said.

“Ultimately, our donors want to be happy and grow their commitment to the future, and the financial side can’t be hidden,” Vasseur said.

“First Chinese driver in F1 – it’s big news for us, for the company, for our sponsors and also for F1 in general.

“A team has to become sustainable at one stage. It’s not just about the Chinese sponsors, it’s about the exposure we’ll give our existing partners.

“F1 was a bit tough today. If you’re not in the top two plus Ferrari, the exposure is very low and this is probably the best way we’re going to have to improve the exposure grading.”

Why did Alfa Romeo choose Bottas as team leader?

Bottas was signed in early September, after Mercedes decided to sign George Russell as Lewis Hamilton’s teammate for next season.

Vasseur said conversations with Finn, who drove the Frenchman in the junior categories before his F1 debut with Williams in 2013, began earlier this season.

“We’ve always had a very good relationship and very early in the season we were in the same hotel and discussed it one evening,” Vasseur said. “I said: ‘Okay, if one day you’re looking for a team, Valtteri, I’ll be there.”

“We started the discussion like this and moved forward step by step. We have a strong personal relationship and I know he’s in a difficult situation.

“Okay, Mercedes is probably the best team on the grid and being part of the team is the dream of 18 drivers on the grid today.

“But it’s not an easy situation and he’s trying for the next stage [of his career] become the center of a project and that’s what we discussed at the outset.

“We said, ‘Okay, if we want to improve as a team, we need to develop the project around a driver.” That is always the case with success stories – with [Sebastian] Vettel at Red Bull or [Fernando] Alonso at Renault or [Michael] Schumacher at Ferrari or Lewis [Hamilton] – to try to build something around someone and that’s the project with Valtteri. “

Vasseur said Bottas’ status as top driver will give the team a benchmark as F1 begins a major regulatory change this winter, with new cars aimed at shrinking the grid and make the race more competitive.

Alfa’s tough season

Alfa Romeo finished ninth out of 10 teams in the constructors championship with three races to go, but their records varied widely between races – Giovinazzi qualified seventh and 10th in Hanoi. Lan and Italy in early September, but finished 18th on the grid in the next two races in Russia and Turkey.

Vasseur said he “wouldn’t blame the drivers more than anything” for the team’s inconsistent performance.

He emphasized that the midfield group is close in terms of performance, so small details, whether it’s control errors, team errors or other factors, can make a big difference.

He also pointed out that Alfa Romeo hasn’t put any new parts on the car since the third or fourth race of the season, that their Ferrari engines are less efficient than rival electric motors. from Mercedes, Honda and Renault, and that Unlike all of their rivals, Alfa doesn’t incur any penalties for using more than the allowed number of engines.

Alfa didn’t benefit from the more powerful hybrid system that Ferrari introduced for the final third of the season as they continued to use the engine in specs starting that year.

“We decided a year ago,” Vasseur said. “I think it’s the right decision for the future. It’s tough for 2021 because we know that if you don’t develop during the season, you almost die. But this puts pressure on the team, on tracking activities, and I think they did well.”

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