Guanyu Zhou to remain with Alfa Romeo in 2023

Deal announced to keep Zhou on the grid for another year, but does he deserve it?

As of writing, Guanyu Zhou has just put pen to paper on a new contract, keeping him with Alfa Romeo Sauber until the end of 2023. Despite this, general perceptions on the young Chinese driver are mixed, with some viewing him as a good edition to the grid, whilst others voice concern over his rookie season, believing he hasn’t been up to the standard that is demanded of a Formula One driver. When looking at the standings it’s understandable as to why he’s faced criticism, as he sits 17th with just 6 points to his name, compared to his teammate in 10th who has 46. This would suggest he’s been largely outclassed by Bottas, however when we look a bit deeper into this season, we can see this may not be the case.

Much of Zhou’s struggles came early in the year as he was thoroughly outpaced in

qualifying by his teammate Bottas, which is nothing to be ashamed of given Bottas’ reputation. He began to make progress from rounds 8 onwards, with the qualifying battle being 5-4 in favour of Zhou since Azerbaijan. That was an important weekend for Zhou as it acted as his breakthrough, the first weekend he looked comfortably faster than his teammate. Unfortunately, an almost certain points finish was scarpered when his hydraulic system failed him on lap 23. I would argue that Zhou’s misfortune is one reason for his lack of points this season, with 5 retirements to boast this campaign, the joint most alongside teammate Bottas. He is also unfortunate in the fact that his form has begun to pick just as Alfa Romeo’s car has been getting weaker. In the early rounds, Alfa were arguably the fastest of all the midfield running cars, which the ever-experienced Bottas was able to make use of, picking up 40 points in the opening 7 rounds. However, Zhou’s early season struggles meant he could not utilise the opportunities for points in the same way Bottas did. This is perhaps what skews people’s perceptions about Zhou, as from rounds eight-sixteen, Bottas has only outscored Zhou by one point, with the score being 6-5. Team principal Frederic Vasseur also commends his work ethic, stating 'He has had the humility to ask questions and learn, from the engineers as well as Valtteri, and the intelligence to apply all the information he got to improve race after race ‘. This is a trait possessed by all the best drivers throughout F1’s history and perhaps suggests that there is still more to come from Zhou in terms of performance.

From this it’s clear to see why Alfa Romeo have opted to extend Zhou’s deal. Whilst it’s true he probably won’t become a world champion or race winning driver, at the end of the day not everyone can be. What Alfa Romeo need is a reliable pair of hands to score points in the midfield and that’s exactly what Zhou has proven himself to be. He’s shown plenty of signs of improvement as the season has progressed, so I am excited to see he can do in 2023.