Guanyu Zhou, the only Formula 1 rookie this season, opened the scoring with points earned in his debut race, though he has not yet been able to build on that initial success. In an interview with the Spanish newspaper AS, the Alfa Romeo driver spoke about his way to the World Championship.
Q: What was your childhood like and when did you start racing?
Guanyu Zhou: After school I always went to the go-kart track to train or compete. The schedule was very tight and I spent all my time on the track. I started karting in my home country when I was 8 years old and moved to the UK when I was 12.
Q: What can you say about go-kart tracks in China?
Guanyu Zhou: There are quite a few, and they are very good, although I haven’t been there in a long time.
Q: How did you get used to English culture at age 12?
Guanyu Zhou: It was not easy for me, because it is totally different from Chinese, also the behavior at school. At first I didn’t understand anything at all, because I didn’t know the language well, I didn’t understand what people were talking about. But after a while I started to make progress, it got easier for me, around the same time my karting got better. The dream of breaking through in Formula 1 was the main reason for moving to the UK.
Q: Which of the riders did you root for then?
Guanyu Zhou: For Fernando Alonso. In China, the biggest fans were Ferrari and Schumacher, but I was a fan of Fernando’s talent, because he beat Michael on track.
Q: When did you realize you wanted to be a Formula 1 driver?
Guanyu Zhou: Maybe at the age of 10 or 11. When I played in the local championships, I loved the feeling of victory and dreamed of prize champagne. And when I first visited the Grand Prix, I was struck by the speed of these machines and their sound.
Q: What did you have to overcome to become a Formula 1 driver?
Guanyu Zhou: It was very important to rebuild psychologically. It was easier for many, but I came from China, was far from my homeland, I felt uneasy. But I had to adapt to the style of European riders.
It’s probably easier for people from Japan, after all, in the past Japanese racers had experience in F1, but we didn’t have it at all. In that respect we can be compared with the Americans: when they start performing in Europe, they also have a hard time in the beginning.
But I was ready to overcome all difficulties, because I really wanted to succeed, although it was difficult. To become a Formula 1 driver, you have to be very strong mentally.
Q: When you were a student at the Renault Sport Academy, you worked on tests with Alonso several times at the same time – this was in Bahrain and Abu Dhabi, when Fernando was preparing to return to Formula 1. What did you learn then?
Guanyu Zhou: About the same as what I’m learning now from Valtteri Bottas. Both are very fast riders with a lot of experience. They understand everything on a professional level and off the track they are very effective in providing the necessary information to the team and understand perfectly what they want to achieve with the car.
For me, working with the settings is even more difficult, while they make the task for engineers much clearer and more precise. During those tests, together with Renault, I gained a very useful experience and learned a lot.
Q: What can you say about your impressions after the first meeting with Alonso?
Guanyu Zhou: When he showed up in the pits it was a very special moment for me. In fact, it was hard for me to imagine attending meetings with engineers with Fernando. Or that I get to drive his car – that’s exactly what happened during practice in Austria in 2021.
Working behind the wheel of the car of the idol of my childhood was just incredible, because he is still competing in the world championship. However, I try not to give vent to emotions, because now we have become rivals, although we have a good relationship outside the track.
Q: You already have experience with the first seven Grand Prix – what advice would you give yourself that could be useful in the first races?
Guanyu Zhou: To pay more attention to the starting procedure, to be able to react to the operation of the system that prevents the engine from shutting down – I encountered such a problem in the first races, it cost me a lot of money.
It would be better if I was aware of such complexities in advance. Now there are fewer, although the last races were also far from ideal.
Source: F1 News
I’m Todderic Kirkman, a journalist and author for athletistic. I specialize in covering all news related to sports, ranging from basketball to football and everything in between. With over 10 years of experience in the industry, I have become an invaluable asset to my team. My ambition is to bring the most up-to-date information on sports topics around the world.
