China’s sole Formula 1 hope Zhou Guanyu saw his dream move a step closer with a dramatic victory in the Formula 3 Asian championship in Abu Dhabi on Saturday. The 21-year-old 2021 Alpine Academy driver, who will test F1 cars again this season, took the title and 18 all-important Super Licence points. That takes him to 36 points and he can reach the required number of 40 points this Formula 2 season to make him eligible for an F1 seat if he can get one. “Firstly huge thanks for my team, my crew, Abu Dhabi Racing,” the Shanghai-born driver said after sealing the championship. “Over the last four weeks it’s been tough. Coming into the last round with 32 points behind it wasn‘t easy. I never gave up until the last race and today we made a perfect start, got into the lead and got the head down to focus to get the first win and to get the win here. “It was unbelievable to be winning and to be the Asian F3 champion. It’s a good experience for me and I really enjoyed my four weeks here.” NEWS | Guanyu Zhou is the 2021 F3 Asia champion! He won four races and scored a total of eleven podiums. #F3Asia pic.twitter.com/9LGNagWwgc — F1 Feeder Series (@F1FeederSeries1) February 20, 2021 In the end it looked comfortable, winning by 3.2 seconds. H e only needed to finish ahead of Pierre-Louis Chovet, who had come into the three-race weekend as leader and 32 points ahead of the Chinese driver, and Zhou led the final race from start to finish. It all turned on its head over the final three-race weekend of the season. An investigation into Friday’s race saw Zhou handed victory over in-form Finn Patrik Pasma, which came after Saturday’s first race. Chinese F1 hope Zhou keeps up F3 Asia title fight The final day of the truncated season saw the Yas Marina Circuit play host to two races with Zhou driving for Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema starting on pole in both. As in Friday’s first race of the three-race meet, Zhou’s pole in Saturday’s opener counted for little as he was soon overtaken by Pasma. While Zhou was no longer in the lead, there was better news behind him on the grid. Championship leader Chovet, who started seventh, crashed out. ASIAN F3 STANDINGS WITH 1 RACE TO GO: 1. Guanyu Zhou. 232 points 2. Pierre-Louis Chovet 231 points 3. Jehan Daruvala. 177 points 4. Patrik Pasma. 128 points 5. Isack Hadjar. 95 points pic.twitter.com/DDM9FXG2P9 — F2.Addict (@AddictF2) February 20, 2021 The 18-year-old Frenchman was unable to add to his 231 points while provisional results had Zhou second 1.216 seconds behind Pasma who topped his third race of the season, leading the way with 12 laps. That would have cut the championship lead from 24 points to six points but Pasma was then dropped from first to second for Friday. Instead, Zhou would go into the final race of the 15-race season a point ahead of Chovet and needing only to finish ahead of the French driver. ‘I should have won long ago,’ says China F1 hope Zhou Guanyu Zhou started on pole in that final race with Chovet back in sixth. Chovet immediately rose up the positions to fifth but Zhou, who had a two-second lead halfway into the final race of the season, held on to finish top of the podium and a step closer to Formula 1 history.
