"I'm ready for F1!" China's Zhou chasing the dream of a lifetime

Zhou Guanyu (C) sprays champagne on the podium after winning the 2021 F2 feature race at Monaco, flanked by second-placed Felipe Drugovich (L) and third-placed Roy Nissany (R). (Photo courtesy of Dutch Photo Agency)

Though China has never produced a Formula One race driver, Zhou Guanyu might be set to buck that trend. The Shanghai-born star currently leads the Formula Two championship, and spoke to Xinhua about his chances of an F1 drive, the growth of motorsport in China, and the difficulties of being a trailblazer in his chosen profession.

BEIJING, June 4 (Xinhua) -- Chinese racing driver Zhou Guanyu says he feels ready to make the step up to Formula One, as he seeks to become the first driver from the Middle Kingdom to take part in a Grand Prix.

After cutting his teeth in lower categories, Zhou moved up to Formula Two in 2019 and finished a promising year as the series' top rookie, but his momentum stalled the following season when an expected title challenge failed to materialise.

"2020 was a tough year," Zhou told Xinhua. "The results didn't really go the way I wanted, because we suffered with technical and engine issues which held us back. I lost more than 30 points throughout the year with technical issues."

Now in his third year in open-wheeled motorsport's second tier, Zhou is redoubling his efforts to mount a genuine title challenge. With F2 races supporting F1 events, plenty of influential figures are watching Zhou and his rivals slug it out on track, and the Shanghai native knows he has to catch the eye and convince team bosses of his ability.

"This year is going to be one of the most important years of my racing career. I've been training double, harder than ever, because it's going to be such an important year ahead."

"F2 races are on the same weekends as F1, so that's good - a lot of people will be watching. If I can win the championship or finish in the top three, that will give me quite a high possibility to have an F1 seat [in 2022]."

All appears to be going to plan for Zhou so far in 2021, with two race wins helping to vault him above a congested midfield to the top of the F2 standings with a quarter of the season gone.

For the past two years, Zhou has dovetailed his F2 efforts with a role as test and development driver for the Alpine F1 team. With plenty of experience driving F1 machinery, is the time now right to make the step up to a race seat?

"I'm ready to jump into F1 and do the best I can, and put [into practise] everything I've learned from these past two years. With all the track time I've had in the last two years with Alpine, it gave me extra time to be better prepared, and on my side, I'm ready to jump into an F1 car."

Zhou crosses the line to win at Monaco for UNI-Virtuosi Racing. The Chinese driver currently leads the 2021 F2 championship with two victories in the first six races. (Photo courtesy of Dutch Photo Agency)

Zhou's promotion to F1 next year hinges on one of the current 20 drivers dropping out of the series, and it already appears as if there won't be any space at Alpine, whose 2021 pairing of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon seems set to continue into 2022.

However, hiring Zhou may be an attractive proposition for some of F1's less moneyed teams, given his potential to attract major Chinese sponsorship and affect the growth of the sport in the world's second largest economy - a point that Zhou acknowledges.

"In China, [companies] like to sponsor the highest categories, and F1 has never had a Chinese driver, so I'm sure that if there's one guy there, sponsors will be interested and will invest in motorsport. I guess if I can get into F1, there should be quite a lot [of sponsors] coming up."

If Zhou does succeed in snaring an F1 race drive, it would represent the culmination of a lifetime spent in pursuit of his goal, though the journey to becoming China's first F1 driver has often been a lonely and difficult one.

Moving to England at age 12, and with no one from his home country to follow in the footsteps of or seek advice from, Zhou's early career was sometimes a process of trial and error.

"Having no one in front of me showing me the right direction was tough. Sometimes we picked the wrong teams and the wrong championships, but this happens. You have to go through these tough moments to make yourself better."

"On the other hand, there's never been a Chinese driver in F1 history, so if I'm the first one, I'm sure there will be a lot of people who will be more interested in this sport, which will help the future of Chinese motorsport a lot."

"Even now, the interest in motorsport in China is building up hugely, and hopefully I can be that person to open more doors for the future of Chinese motorsport."