China's Zhou pleased with "amazing" F1 practise debut

BEIJING, July 3 (Xinhua) -- China's Zhou Guanyu on Friday took part in a Formula One Grand Prix weekend for the first time, taking over Fernando Alonso's Alpine A521 for the first practise session ahead of Sunday's Austrian Grand Prix.

In doing so, Zhou became only the second driver from the Chinese mainland to drive in an official F1 session after Ma Qinghua, who took part in five Grand Prix practise sessions in 2012 and 2013.

"It was amazing. I enjoyed every single lap out there," Zhou told Xinhua afterwards. "It feels a bit unreal when you've got your engineer telling you Lewis Hamilton is five seconds behind and then you see him going past. It's something that you dream about, being on the same track as him, so it's a special moment."

Zhou ended an encouraging session at the Red Bull Ring 14th quickest out of the 20 drivers, 0.4s behind regular Alpine driver Esteban Ocon, though the Frenchman set his fastest time on the grippier soft compound tyre, while Zhou spent the entire session on slower medium compound rubber.

"The team are super happy and pleased with the job I've done," added Zhou. "They believed in me and gave me a lot of responsibility, because I went through all the programs a race driver would do, so the team wanted me to use medium tyres all the way. I'm happy that it was exactly what they wanted. I even ended up doing a practise start."

The Shanghai native also touched on the important role that Alonso himself had played in advance of Zhou's first official F1 outing.

"After my engineers, Fernando was the person I spoke to the most this weekend. We came to the track together, and he was giving me lots of tips about how the car behaves in each corner, so I'm really thankful for all he did to help me. Actually, I think I made him a little bit proud as well. He said a big well done to me and gave me a big hug when I got out of the car!"

In addition to his Alpine testing duties, Zhou is currently leading the Formula Two series and is seeking to graduate to an F1 race seat next year, though this will not be with Alpine, who still have both Alonso and Ocon under contract for 2022.

"I'm speaking to different teams," Zhou said of his plans to land an F1 drive next year. "[Alpine] are trying to help me find a seat. I'm the longest-serving member of their driver academy and have a super license, so they are trying to help me, but we have to wait and see, because there's only a few seats available for next year."

If Zhou does land an F1 race seat, he would become the first ever Chinese driver to take part in a Grand Prix, and the 22-year-old told Xinhua that graduating to F1 is his sole focus.

"If I can do well this year and impress everyone, I think I have the right to be an F1 driver the following year. F1 will always be my goal. I'm not interested in any other series. I want to reach my dream, and that is the goal I have been working for all the time. We are as close as ever, so hopefully I can find [an F1 drive]."