Zhou Guanyu will be competing in the 2022 grid along with Valtteri Bottas.
The post Alfa Romeo Welcomes F1 First Chinese Driver: Zhou Guanyu appeared first on LUXUO.

Image: dutchphotoagency

Come next year, 22-year-old Zhou Guanyu will be Formula One (F1)?s first Chinese driver after signing with Alfa Romeo. Zhou replaces Italian Antonio Giovinazzi and will partner Valtteri Bottas, who is set to leave Mercedes and former race partner Lewis Hamilton.

The addition of Zhou concludes the fleet of drivers that are competing in the 2022 grid.

Currently holding on to second place in the Formula Two championship, Zhou is 36 points behind Oscar Piastri with two more rounds to go next month in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi. 

Image: Zhou Guanyu’s Twitter
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Zhou is also the test driver for the Renault-owned Alpine F1 team for this season and has been doing so for the past two years. He first joined the French company in 2019 and was part of the Ferrari driver academy between 2014 to 2018.

Coming over from Alpine, Zhou brings along with him substantial financial backing to Alfa Romeo. The commercial Chinese sponsors that are supporting Zhou is one of the reasons the British company signed him. 

In an article by the BBC, team principal Frederic Vasseur admitted that the ?extra income Zhou brings to Alfa Romeo would mean that the team would be able to operate at F1?s cost cap next se...