China’s Formula One history-maker Zhou Guanyu has revealed that the faith shown in him by former world F1 champion Fernando Alonso – and by his own family – has helped drive him to the pinnacle of world motorsport. Zhou is in the final stages of preparation with his Alfa Romeo team before the 2022 F1 season-opener in Bahrain on March 20, where the 22-year-old is set to become the first full-time F1 Chinese driver. It’s a journey that began with Zhou trying out go-karting in Shanghai as an eight-year-old and later finding inspiration in the exploits of Spain’s Alonso, as he raced to world championships for Renault in 2005 and 2006, and has continued on through a total now of 32 Grand Prix victories and a seat at present racing for the Alpine F1 outfit. “Even as a little kid I thought, ‘This guy’s very cool, very fast’, and years later I was like, ‘Yeah, he has the skills, the talent, the ability’,” Zhou said of Alonso. “I’ve had the very great opportunity to do some work with him in the past, and we’re now good friends. “We talk, he’s given me advice and he is always open to chatting. He was the guy who I looked up to most in the past and then to have him as a friend has been really special.” How Formula 1’s Zhou Guanyu is helping to accelerate rise of Chinese motorsport Zhou also took time to reflect on the support he has had from his family in Shanghai. They allowed him to move to Europe as a 12-year-old to test himself against the best karters on the planet, and to showcase his talents to the teams who would later support him through his rise on through the Formula classes, before he landed a contract with Alfa Romeo. “They’re the ones who let me chase my dream,” Zhou says. “And I think it’s great they let their child from a very young age go to Europe on this journey. The future, back then, was like a huge question mark, and this journey has sometimes been super intense, so I hope now they can be more relaxed and enjoy themselves. “I was out there racing for myself and for the people who supported me and for the people back home in China. All I knew was that I had this dream and I wanted to chase it.” Zhou said he was aware of the position he was now in when it came to providing an example to China’s young motorsport hopefuls, and how he hoped his own story would help to inspire a generation to follow in his footsteps – and to follow their own dreams. “Having a lot of young kids saying that they’re looking up to me is great to see because I’m still not very well known and I’m still quite young,” Zhou says. “In China, there’s not been a lot of people into motorsport in the past, but there’s a lot of people around my age who are starting to be interested and together with me are having the same dream of one day being where I am now. I want to keep going out there and showing them what is possible.”