Alfa Romeo announced that Guanyu Zhou will represent them in F1, making him the first-ever F1 driver from China. He will take the spot vacated by Antonio Giovinazzi who couldn’t earn the spot for the next year’s grid. Zhou is ranked second in the F2 and will partner with Valtteri Bottas next year; Bottas is in his last year of contract with Mercedes.
I dreamt from a young age of climbing as high as I can in a sport that I am passionate about and now the dream has come true. I feel well prepared for the immense challenge of Formula 1, the pinnacle of my sport, alongside a proven, world-class talent in Valtteri Bottas.
Guanyu Zhou, 2022 Alfa Romeo driver
I don't know if in the end he will be a champion or not in F2. But this won't change the potential that he is a frontrunner against some other very experienced guys. He also has the advantage that he was able to do some test days this season in F1 so he is not with zero mileage. For China, it makes no sense to bring someone if the guy is nowhere. They want to be successful. When he was at the beginning of the story in F3, we said: 'Perhaps this one is a potential].' And then he won some races in F3 Euroseries before moving to F2, and he did well. The most important thing for me is that he is a clever guy because he is always improving from year to year, always doing a better job and putting everything together.
Frederic Vaseur, Team Principal, Alfa Romeo