Jorn Becker: I would call Zhou’s approach academic

On the first day of the race weekend in Singapore, the Alfa Romeo team confirmed that Guanyu Zhou will remain Valtteri Bottas’ teammate next year. This came amid rumors that a replacement would be found for the Chinese driver – several candidates were mentioned, including Felipe Drugovich, Mick Schumacher and Theo Pourcher, who trains at the Sauber Academy and leads the Formula 2 individual rankings.

But now that all this is behind him, Zhou’s contract has been officially extended, and not just thanks to his Chinese sponsors – Guanyu is showing progress in his second season, and this is being noticed by his race engineer Jörn Becker.

“He is a well-educated and very smart guy,” Becker told The Race. “This is evident in the way he builds relationships with people and his ability to motivate them. All this is impressive considering his youth. I would call Zhou’s approach to work academic. When driving, he is not only guided by racing instincts.

He knows how to find a common language with mechanics and engineers, and this is a very important motivating aspect. All good riders need leadership qualities to keep the team motivated and lead. If the team likes the driver, everyone will do their best and try for him.

Zhou has the right attitude and a very good relationship with the technicians and engineers who work with him. This is one of his character traits, and although he is still very young, he already shows good leadership qualities.

He is a very sincere and open person. He often communicates with mechanics, knows everyone by name, and every day, when he talks to them, as well as engineers, he is interested in their opinions. These are all small details, but they have a major motivating effect on the team. I think many drivers underestimate this. And Zhou was distinguished by this from the very beginning, although no one explained to him that he should act this way. This is a completely natural approach for him…

In terms of driving style, he wants the car to feel stable when entering corners, to feel confident when cornering early in the process, and also to be very sensitive to changes in aerodynamic balance. I haven’t seen this happen with other racers I’ve worked with.

During qualifying he gives us very correct recommendations on adjusting the angle of attack of the front wing, especially in situations where we have to act very quickly. Zhou also gives very clear feedback when explaining what he wants to achieve with the car in the next segment of the race.”

The team greatly appreciates the progress Guanyu Zhou has made over the past season and a half and expects his results to only increase. The Chinese driver may not show what a champion is made of, but we can say with certainty that he has all the qualities to ensure that his Formula 1 career continues.