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Robert Kubica was back behind the wheel for Alfa Romeo during the French Grand Prix. Photo: Alfa Romeo

Formula 1: veteran Alfa Romeo driver Robert Kubica says Zhou Guanyu ‘deserves to be’ in the sport

  • Teams head to Hungarian Grand Prix this weekend for the final round of the championship before the summer break
  • The race will be a chance for Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu to get back in the points and head into the holidays with positive momentum

Formula 1 returns to Budapest for the Hungarian Grand Prix this weekend – the final race before drivers take a well-earned summer break from what has been a grinding, testing season.

For Zhou Guanyu, China’s first F1 driver, it will be a chance to refocus after a rookie season that has gone from the highs of a point in his first race to several forced retirements in others.

According to veteran F1 driver Robert Kubica, despite niggling car troubles, back-to-back retirements and a horrific crash Zhou has remained focused and shown remarkable character.
Chinese F1 driver Zhou Guanyu signs autographs ahead of the British Grand Prix. Photo: dpa

“He’s been quite unlucky,” Kubica told the Post. “But to be honest, I think from a technical driver’s point of view, he’s doing a solid job. He deserves to be in Formula One. The confidence is there. He’s not making mistakes and he has the car – this is a very important combination.”

A member of the Alfa Romeo F1 set-up since 2020, Kubica acknowledged that the team had had its fair share of car troubles this year, but believes it is now in a stronger position than many of their F1 counterparts – especially in dealing with the issue of porpoising, or the bouncing of cars as a result of new F1 regulations.

“Of course we have faced, as all teams have in this modern Formula One, the issue of porpoising,” he said. “But what we can build on is performance. We have to keep developing and we have to keep working on the car from a reliability point of view, but also from a performance point of view.”

Kubica believes the new regulations have given designers and engineers significant room to implement sweeping innovations in 2022.

Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu in action during French Grand Prix qualifying sessions. Photo: Reuters

“I would say the development during this year is huge,” he said. “F1 is a very dynamic sport, not only on the circuit over the Grand Prix weekends, but especially in the factory.

“The real race in F1 is won over days and nights in the factory perfecting your car.”

But there is still the issue of securing points, something that has largely evaded team Alfa Romeo, and in particular, Zhou in 2022.

“For sure it is never nice to lose points, but overall I think the car’s performance is giving a big boost to the morale and atmosphere of the team,” Kubica said.

“I said in Barcelona that Zhou’s season would depend a lot on how our car is behaving. Yes, you can have a fast car, but if the car has a very narrow operating window – especially for a rookie driver – it can be very difficult.”

In 2006, Kubica became the first Polish driver to sign with an F1 team and said he understood the significance of being a pioneer for the sport, in Zhou’s case that comes in a far bigger market.

“He’s the first Chinese driver to join F1, so the attention is huge,” Kubica said. “Unfortunately we were not going to China because of Covid and pandemic situation, but I would expect a huge attendance when we go back there,” he said.

“Having a national driver is something special.”

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