F1 dream come true as Zhou looks forward to home race

BARCELONA • Zhou Guanyu had his first official outing on Thursday, on the final laps of his long journey to become the first Chinese Formula One driver.

After sitting out the opening day of pre-season testing in Barcelona, he completed 71 laps in his Alfa Romeo on the second day, and another 41 on Friday.

At 22, Zhou will take that step up on March 20 in the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.

"It was always a dream more than target, because it was too far away," he said of the difficulties facing Chinese drivers who want to reach F1. "In China, you can be a good Chinese driver, but if you can't compete or beat European drivers, then you aren't going to make your way to Formula One."

The HRT team planned to make Ma Qinghua one of their drivers in 2013, but folded before the season.

"It's super difficult for us to firstly move outside, to Europe... as a very little kid," added Zhou.

"At eight years old, I started racing, in go-karts. I spent, three or four years of home racing. Then when you've won basically all the categories back home, the only way forward is to move to Europe."

At 12, he moved to Sheffield in the north of England to join a karting team and still speaks English with a hint of a Yorkshire accent.

In 2019, he joined in the young drivers' pipeline of the French manufacturer Renault (now Alpine).

China is a major growth market for F1 but any sport trying to crack the world's second-biggest economy needs a home star.

The man he is replacing, Antonio Giovinazzi, implied on social media that the decision to promote Zhou was financially motivated.

"F1 is emotion, talent, cars, risk, speed. But when money rules it can be ruthless," the Italian tweeted in November.

But Zhou insisted he had shown the talent. "It doesn't really make a lot of difference between which country you come from," said the Chinese, who was third in the Formula Two championship last year.

"What I had to do is finish in the top three. To be a Formula One driver, you have to do well, show your potential at every category."

He also acknowledged his promotion had played well back home, where he has devoted fans.

"Of course, there's a massive amount of new fans involved since I signed an F1 contract. I think there will be a lot of people viewing the races back home this season."

While the Grand Prix in his native Shanghai has again been cancelled this year, Formula One has extended the contract to 2025.

Zhou, who as a little boy attended the first Chinese Grand Prix in 2004, looks forward to driving in his home race.

"The atmosphere will be amazing," he said. "I've never really been racing at home, I've been racing Europe all the time."

Last season, Alfa Romeo picked up only 13 points to be second last but has added Valtteri Bottas, who scored 226 as he finished third for Mercedes, as well as Zhou.

"My target for the season will be get some points," said Zhou.

"That'll be great. Also to do well in qualifying. But that's all dependent on how we do as a team."

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE