F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Zhou has 'surprised' himself during maiden F1 campaign

Alfa Romeo rookie Zhou Guanyu has performed well so far this season, and the Chinese driver says he's even surprised himself at times during his maiden campaign in Formula 1.

The 23-year-old who entered F1 with a significant sponsorship support package was regarded at the outset as an economic choice for Alfa Romeo.

But a top-ten finish in the opening round in Bahrain augured well for Zhou's intronization among motorsport's elite.

However, except in Montreal where he finished P8, points were hard to come by thereafter due in large part to reliability issues and bad luck that impacted several of his races, including at Silverstone where Zhou was on the receiving end of a scary chain reaction at the start that ended with the young gun strapped upside down in his car at the first corner!

Taking stock of the first half of his season, Zhou responded to the suggestion that he has been the revelation of the season.

"Overall, I'm quite happy," he said. "Surprising anyone, also, [getting into] Q3 is definitely a big surprise for myself as well, because I don't feel, [in my] first year, we've had much opportunity to do that.

"So it was quite a good achievement, and good news for me going forward."

"But then, on the other hand, I feel like my expectation for myself is obviously higher, because even though I'm still a rookie, if I'm out in Q1 I just always feel quite upset now.

"At the beginning of the year, I would have been okay, but now I can feel like Q2 will always be my minimum target, even though now the whole field is quite compact."

Read also:

Alfa team boss Frederic Vasseur recently praised Zhou for his performance year-to-date, insisting the Chinese driver "is ticking all the boxes" both on and off the track.

Does he agree with the Frenchman?

"I think, overall, most of the [targets have been] achieved. Maybe overachieved, [with] all these DNFs [and the] crash, that I wasn't asking for!" he joked.

"In terms of reaching Q2, Q3, that after Q2 I want to be in Q3, [that has] been achieved. But then, still I think there's some stuff I want to figure out a little bit with the team.

"Firstly, I think is the starts. As a team, we struggle a lot [with that]. It's very inconsistent or unpredictable.

"I think that's something we want to improve for our team, and hopefully that's getting fixed very soon."

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Michael Delaney

Recent Posts

Las Vegas GP: Thursday's action in pictures

The opening day of running at the Las Vegas GP was a smooth but chilly…

2 hours ago

Williams' headaches persist into Vegas practice

Williams is continuing to fight uphill battles this weekend in Las Vegas as a knock-on…

3 hours ago

Ferrari's Sainz 'not satisfied with where we are' in Vegas

It was a solid start to the Las Vegas weekend for Ferrari with Carlos Sainz…

5 hours ago

Norris labels McLaren long-run pace ‘shocking’ in chilly Vegas

Lando Norris didn’t hold back in his assessment of McLaren’s performance on the opening day…

6 hours ago

Hamilton delighted with ‘consistently strong day’ in Vegas

Lewis Hamilton was particularly happy with his opening day of running at the Las Vegas…

7 hours ago

Verstappen stuck with 'draggy' rear wing for Vegas

Red Bull fears that its prospects for this weekend's Las Vegas Grand Prix - which…

8 hours ago