Guanyu embarks on his debut season in Formula 1 having signed with the Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN team, a surprise move considering his Alpine-sponsored junior career. His signing means Zhou becomes the first Chinese driver to secure a full-time race seat in the series, and whilst his junior career does carry some merit, he still has some convincing to do to justify deserving the seat.
Based on the pre-season shakedown, it could be a character-building season for Guanyu. But here’s an overview of his route to F1 and what to look out for in his rookie season.
2012-2014: Karting
Embarking on a racing career in his native China, Zhou moved to Sheffield in the UK in 2012 to pursue a more competitive environment. Guanyu earned a handful of titles and competed in the Karting World Championship for Ricky Flynn Motorsport alongside current McLaren star, Lando Norris, in 2014.
2015: Italian F4 Championship & ADAC F4 Championship
Guanyu’s first taste of single-seaters came in Italy, a country he will be visiting twice a season for the foreseeable future in F1 thanks to the contract extension handed to Imola. Back in 2015, Zhou joined the junior-team titan in Prema Powerteam. After a clean sweep of victories in Round 2 at Monza, followed by a further five podiums.
Zhou ended the season as vice-champion and the best rookie. He also competed in selected rounds of the German ADAC F4 Championship, which often acts as a dual-programme for Italian F4 drivers, achieving two podium finishes in Spielberg and Spa.
2016-2018: FIA Formula 3 European Championship
Zhou joined Team Motopark with the backing of Ferrari for the 2016 FIA European F3 Championship (now merged into the FIA Formula 3 Championship), which was the third rung of the junior ladder. After claiming two podiums in the opening six races at Paul Ricard and Hungaroring, Zhou would see a slump in form and failed to return to the rostrum over the next 8 rounds (24 races). Guanyu struggled to finish in 13th for his maiden season.
Zhou stayed for a second F3 season by rejoining Prema, the outfit that ran him to near-glory in F4. He improved to 8th in standings with five podium finishes. Season highlights included leading race 3 in Spa and valiantly holding back Lando Norris in the penultimate race at Hockenheim.
After speculation of a possible move to F2, Zhou remained with Prema for a third F3 season. Taking a maiden career win in Pau, a podium in Hungaroring, and three consecutive podium finishes in Zandvoort, Zhou found himself second in the standings, just a point behind then-teammate Marcus Armstrong.
Zhou would then suffer misfortune with four consecutive retirements in a series of teammate collisions and tyre punctures that would derail his title bid. Zhou won his second F3 race in Hockenheim, finishing the season 8th in the standings, with 3 poles, and 2 wins. Overall, solid progress but still room for improvement.
2019-2021: FIA Formula 2 Championship & F3 Asian Championship
Moving across from the Ferrari to Renault / Alpine Junior programmes, Guanyu would spend three years in the F2 series at the UNI-Virtuosi squad. Driving alongside veteran Luca Ghiotto for his maiden season in 2019, Zhou settled in well and took five podiums (all P3 finishes) and a breakthrough Pole Position at the Silverstone round to finish a respectable P6 in the Championship. Guanyu was the recipient of the inaugural Anthoine Hubert Award for the best rookie, in honour of his former Renault junior’s untimely passing in the Feature Race at Spa-Francorchamps.
For 2020, Gunayu was tipped as one of the favourites for the Championship owing to his finishing position in relation to the drivers entering the season. After much delay to the start of the season due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, it looked as though Zhou was going to live up to that reputation. He took a dominant Pole Position and held a comfortable lead at the opening race in Austria, only to suffer a heartbreaking mechanical failure, robbing him of an almost certain victory. To add salt to the wounds, new teammate Callum Ilott would inherit the victory.
Whilst taking podiums in the second Austrian round a week later, Britain, Spain, and Belgium. Zhou would have to wait all the way until the Sprint Race at Sochi (round 10) to pick up his first win in the series, even that was curtailed due to a heavy crash involving former teammate Ghiotto and Williams stand-in, Jack Aitken. Overall, Zhou’s second season was rather stagnant and he finished 6th overall once again whilst teammate Ilott finished as runner up and rather dominated the head-to-heads.
Prior to the 2021 F2 season, Zhou would take part in the F3 Asian Series, a winter series that provides an opportunity for some useful Super Licence points. Zhou grabbed that opportunity with both hands, taking four wins and a further seven podiums in 15 races to claim his first single-seater Championship. However, this was a Championship Zhou should be dominating, with fellow F2 drivers Jehan Daruvala and Roy Nissany being the only drivers of the same calibre.
Buoyed with confidence from his title, Zhou returned to the F2 paddock with the same Championship expectations that he failed to reach in 2020. Once again he started strongly and was able to convert potential into concrete results. In fact, after the opening two rounds of the new-look Championship, Zhou led, having secured back-to-back wins in the Bahrain Feature Race and Monaco Sprint Race 1. After a wobble at Baku, he was back on top by taking victory at the Silverstone Feature race.
Two P2s at Monza had Zhou in strong pursuit of Championship leader, fellow Alpine Junior Oscar Piastri. Unfortunately, Zhou’s form dropped as rumours started swirling of the Alfa Romeo seat. A disastrous weekend at Sochi saw a solitary P6 and would have to wait until the season-ending races at Abu Dhabi to stand on the rostrum again.
Overall, Zhou finished P3, albeit nearly 80 points behind the dominant Piastri, which is why question marks face Zhou heading into 2022 since Piastri is sitting on the sidelines this year despite winning the Championship.
2022: FIA Formula One World Championship
Does Guanyu’s junior career justify a seat in F1? To be honest I don’t think so.
Guanyu certainly is not the least deserving to drive in F1 but I can’t help but feel the likes of Piastri or former teammate Ilott, who finished P2 in 2020 and was a Ferrari Junior, would be more favoured for the seat.
Nonetheless, Zhou embarks on an intriguing season and arguably one of the best times to join as a rookie, all new cars and an opportunity for a more level playing field. Well, the Barcelona shakedown was not ideal as Alfa Romeo looked off the pace, but at least they had some reliability unlike some of their rivals. Donning the number 24 and a striking purple helmet, Zhou should be easy to spot on track this season.
Having one of the most experienced drivers in Valterri Bottas as a teammate will be a good motivator, however, the Finn comes in after a tough stint at Mercedes. By all accounts, confidence is not particularly high, but with at least 22 races ahead there are plenty of opportunities to nab a point or two.
Expectations: Consistent race finisher, will struggle to breach the top 10
