Guanyu Zhou

**Guanyu Zhou** (Chinese: 周冠宇; pinyin: *Zhōu Guànyǔ*; born 30 May 1999) is a Chinese racing driver, currently competing in Formula One for Lotus Geely GP alongside Pierre Gasly.

Zhou started his single seater career in 2015, competing in the Italian F4 Championship and ADAC Formula 4 with Prema Racing. After finding success in the Italian F4 Championship, he moved up to the European Formula 3 Championship with Motopark in 2016 and Prema Racing in 2017 and 2018.

### Karting

Having started karting when he was eight years old in China, Zhou moved to the UK in 2012 for a more competitive racing environment. In 2013 racing with the Sheffield-based Strawberry Racing team, he won both the Super 1 National Rotax Max Junior Championship and Rotax Max Euro Challenge. For his final year of karting, Zhou finished 2nd in the Rotax Max Senior Euro Challenge and participated in selected rounds of WSK Champions Cup and the KF2 European Championship.

### Formula 4

Zhou joined Prema Powerteam for the 2015 Italian F4 Championship. After winning a hat trick in round 2 Monza and consistently finishing on the podium, Zhou ended the season as vice-champion and best rookie, beating highly-rated Robert Shwartzman and David Beckmann. He also competed in selected rounds of the German ADAC F4 Championship, achieving two podium finishes in Spielberg and Spa.

### FIA Formula 3 European Championship

Zhou joined team Motopark for the 2016 FIA European F3 Championship. After a successful season opener rounds in Paul Ricard and Hungaroring by finishing in 2 podium positions, Zhou struggled to find pace during the 2nd half of the season, finishing in 13th for his maiden season.

Zhou stayed for a second F3 season by rejoining Prema, and improved to 8th in standing with 5 podium finishes. Season highlights included leading race 3 in Spa and holding back Lando Norris in the penultimate round.

After speculation of a possible move to F2, Zhou remained with Prema for a third F3 season. After a maiden career win in Pau, a podium in Hungaroring and three consecutive podium finishes in Zandvoort, Zhou found him standing in 2nd, just a point behind teammate Marcus Armstrong. Despite a strong qualifying pace in Spa and Silverstone, Zhou suffered 4 consecutive retirements with a series of teammate collisions and tyre punctures. Zhou won his second F3 race in Hockenheim, finishing the season 8th in standing, with 3 poles, and 2 wins.

### FIA Formula 2

In December 2018, Zhou joined UNI-Virtuosi Racing along with Luca Ghiotto for the 2019 FIA Formula 2 Championship. Zhou achieved a maiden feature race podium in Barcelona after a strong qualifying and leading most of the race before dropping to third due to tyre degradation. He subsequently achieved another 3rd in the Monaco sprint race by overtaking Artem Markelov at the start. At Silverstone, Zhou scored his first Formula 2 pole position, becoming the first Chinese driver to do so. Later, Zhou also scored third place in the sprint race at Paul Ricard. In the feature race at Silverstone, he lost positions to his teammate and race winner Luca Ghiotto and to the second-place driver Nicholas Latifi. In Abu Dhabi, he also finished third with the fastest lap in Race 1. He finished seventh in the championship and was subsequently awarded the Anthoine Hubert Award for being the highest-finishing rookie.
Zhou in Austria 2019
Zhou remained at UNI-Virtuosi for the 2020 season, partnering Ferrari Driver Academy member Callum Ilott. Zhou took his second Formula 2 pole position at the opening race at the Red Bull Ring. However, his car suffered electronic problems whilst leading the feature race, causing him to drop to 17th. Later in the year, Zhou won his first Formula 2 race in Sochi, after Aitken and Ghiotto crashed at lap 5 of the sprint race, causing a premature end of the race. Over the season, Zhou achieved 6 podiums and finished sixth in the championship, one place higher than his rookie season in F2.

Zhou entered his third F2 season staying with UNI-Virtuosi and partnering Felipe Drugovich. He took pole position in the opening round at Bahrain and converted the pole to his first feature race win in F2.

### Formula One

In mid 2014, he joined the Ferrari Driver Academy while still karting. He stayed in the Ferrari Driver Academy until the end of 2018. In 2019, he joined the Renault Sport Academy and served as a development driver for the Renault Formula One Team. In 2020, Zhou was promoted to Test Driver for the Renault Formula One Team.

He also participated in the Virtual Grand Prix Series for Renault, an FIA launched Esports series in place of the F1 Grands Prix postponed or cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. He won the Bahrain Virtual Grand Prix, the first Virtual GP of the replacement series. However, this series did not award any points to the Formula One World Championship. He, along with Oscar Piastri and Christian Lundgaard, tested the Renault R.S.18 at the Bahrain International Circuit in 2020. At the end of 2020, he participated in the Abu Dhabi post-season test for Renault, alongside Fernando Alonso. He made his F1 race weekend debut for Alpine F1 Team during the first practice session of the 2021 Austrian Grand Prix, becoming the second driver from mainland China to participate in an F1 Grand Prix, after Ma Qinghua.