News Article

Chinese racing driver to make F1 debut with Fernando Alonso’s car in Austria
Qing Na
/ Categories: News

Chinese racing driver to make F1 debut with Fernando Alonso’s car in Austria

Header Image: Zhou was also the first Chinese driver to drive a Formula 1 car on downtown Chinese city streets in 2019. Courtesy: Alpine Academy

A 22-year-old Chinese man is to become the first Chinese driver in eight years to participate in an F1 Weekend since Qinghua Ma who raced in the Shanghai GP in 2013.

Guanyu Zhou, from Shanghai, China, currently serves as a test driver for the Alpine F1 Team and has been a member of Alpine Academy since 2019.

He will participate in his first-ever Formula 1 practice session at the 2021 Austrian Grand Prix over the coming weekend, taking Fernando Alonso’s A521 for the duration of the one-hour practice session, according to the Academy.

Zhou joined the Academy after three consecutive years of racing in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship. In 2020, he scored his first Formula 2 win in the Sochi Sprint Race, which made him the first mainland Chinese driver to win an international single-seater race.

Zhou started his single-seater career in 2015, competing in the Italian F4 Championship and ADAC Formula 4 with Prema Racing. He was also the first Chinese driver to drive a Formula 1 car on the streets of a downtown Chinese city when he took the Renault-powered E20 Formula 1 car to the streets of Xintiandi, the fashion district of his hometown in 2019.

Ahead of his debut race this weekend, Zhou said, “Driving in FP1 at a Formula 1 Grand Prix weekend is like a dream come true and another step closer to my ultimate goal of becoming a Formula 1 driver.”

“There have not been many Chinese drivers in Formula 1, so to be behind the wheel of an F1 car during a race weekend is going to be a very proud feeling.”

Speaking of driving Fernando’s car, Zhou said, “That is quite a lot of responsibility…I wasn’t expecting that my first F1 race would be driving his car. That gives me a little bit of pressure to take care of it…but it’s going to be special as he inspired me to pursue a career in racing when I was young.”

Laurent Rossi, Chief Executive Officer at Alpine said, “In his role as Test Driver Guanyu participated in test and simulator sessions, so running a free practice in a current car is a logical and important step for one of the Academy’s brightest stars.”

The free practice 1 will take place on Friday, July 2 at 11.30 am local time in Austria (10.30 am GMT). Zhao’s next Formula 2 race is the UK Grand Prix at Silverstone on July 17 and 18.

Qing NaQing Na

Other posts by Qing Na
Contact author
blog comments powered by Disqus

Contact author

x

Latest