F1 | Alfa Romeo’s rookie Guanyu Zhou is ready for his debut and says: “I always had to prove myself"
After his journey through Formula 4, Formula 3 and Formula 2, the Chinese young man is ready to fight in F1 alongside his teammate, Valtteri Bottas
After Giovinazzi’s farewell to F1, Alfa Romeo decided to complete their 2022 drivers line-up with Guanyu Zhou alongside the Finn, Valtteri Bottas.
Not the easiest entrance of the Chinese driver in the maximum category, as he was defined many times as a “pay driver”. Giovinazzi explained since the very first time after the news of him leaving F1, that the decision made by the Swiss team, was mainly guided by how many money a driver could bring to the team, and with this logic, Zhou came on top.
Despite this, the 22-year-old is determined to show that he deserves his seat regardless his wealth.
Zhou said: “I showed in Formula 2 that I have what it takes for F1. I won races there and competed for the title. Now it’s up to me to show my skills in F1 as well.”
He continued: “I can’t wait to start. In my fist year I want to really arrive in Formula 1 and then score my first World Championship points”.
Zhou will make his debut in F1 in Bahrain on the 20th of March.
Zhou also cleared that he does not really care about is “pay driver” tag, as he knows what he had to do to arrive here and he defines him “proud of himself”.
He said: “I always had to prove myself. I had to win races and fight for the title in every category. In China it is difficult to get where I arrived. I didn’t know if I was going to make it, but in 2012 I moved to England, I had to learn a new language and I had to learn a lor also technically, as circuits in China were much different.”
He ended: “I don’t have a Chinese role model in F1. It was a rollercoaster ride to get there, but the most important now is that I am happy and so is my family.”
