📍Racing Around Asia, Zhou Guanyu

As a little introduction to the written series, Racing Around Asia serves as a platform for Asian drivers in both F1 & feeder series. There will be both a said series on my TikTok where I talk about the driver and a written series (here) where I go more in-dept about the racer. So who better to spotlight the first ever article on "Heat on Track" than the first ever Chinese driver on the grid....

Zhou Guanyu

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Zhou was born and raised in Shanghai, China where he went to the inaugural 'Chinese F1 Grand Prix' back in 2004 when he was only 5 years old rooting for his now fellow driver, Fernando Alonso. After, he set himself the mission of becoming China's first Formula 1 racer.

At the age of 12, his family moved to Sheffield, England for a better competitive racing environment which paid off as he had gone to win 'Super 1 National Rotax Max Junior L' Championship and 'Rotax Max Euro Challenge'.

He moved to F4 under Prema and Ferrari Driver Academy in 2015 coming in as the Vice-Champion for the 'F4 Italian championship'. He was also awarded best rookie of the season.

Joining 'Team Motopark' in the '2016 FIA European F3 Championship' he placed13th after struggling with pace in the 2nd half of the season.He stayed in F3 the following year by rejoining Prema which helped him improve to 8th with 5 podium finishes. He finished in 2018 where he ended the season, 8th once again with 3 poles and 2 wins.

Teaming up with UNI-Virtousi Racing during the '2019 FIA F2 Championship' and finishing 7th in the championship, he was awarded the 'Anthonie Hubert' Award (highest-finishing rookie of the season award) He remained at UNI-Virtousi Racing for the next two years, having placed 6th and 3rd with combined finishes of 4 wins, 15 podiums and one pole.

He was a test driver for Renault & Alpine for 2 years in 2020 and 2021 (Btw Renault was renamed Alpine so he was under the same team) Prior, part of the Ferrari Driver Academy through 2014-2018 which then switched to Renault Sports Academy (now Alpine Academy) from 2019 to his f1 debut.

      Post Renault rebranding (sorry that rythms) to Alpine, Zhou made his first appearance for the team in FP1 at the Austrian Grand Prix in 2021 for Alpine driving in A521 replacing Fernando Alonso, (who was literally his idol) where he placed P14.

He signed with Alfa-Romeo for the 2022 season, along side long-time driver, Valtteri Bottas. Zhou stands as the FIRST EVER Chinese Formula 1 driver and a breakthrough for Chinese motorsport history. Scoring his first ever point in debut race placing P10. However, struggling for the next seven races.

As most people know, Zhou's crash during the"2022 Silverstone Grand Prix" was life threatening, where his car smashed into the barriers. This happened due to the Alfa Romeo getting clipped by George Russell’s Mercedes, flipping the car over on impact with the track, crushing the roll hoop (support the weight of car ifa rollover accident occurs). The car then continued hurling upside down at high speed across the gravel, constantly smashing the halo against the ground. It then hit the barriers, launching the car into the catch fencing coming to a stop, stuck in the narrow space between the barriers and the fence.

Not only was he struggling with racing, he was struggling with racism. When he signed the contract, he had an abundance of people commenting about his for no apparent reason. Even having a professional presenter (sky sports), refer to Zhou as "Chinaman", which if you didn't know is a derogatory term used to refer to Chinese descent.

Zhou isn't one of the most well known drivers on the grid surely. Yet, he's made such a transformative impact to the Asian Racers on and off track. For the first time ever, Zhou will be racing at the "2024 Chinese Grand Prix", his home race and where it all began for him.

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Hellooo, my name is Aliyah! This is basically my rookie year posting content on Formula 1 & other feeder series. My writing isn't much of a strong suit but we'll work our way up from here :). Have a great time reading these blogs ‼️