Formula 1: China’s Zhou Guanyu won’t be ‘doing anything stupid’ in race for points at Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Zhou Guanyu’s first target at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Sunday is just to finish the race on a street circuit Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who sits in pole position, called “the most dangerous place on the calendar”.

Perez was speaking from experience, having been forced out of last year’s race in Jeddah after a four-car crash ended his participation. In 2021, there were two red flags, one safety car and four virtual safety cars during a race only half the field finished.

There was another red flag in qualifying on Saturday after a nasty accident involving Haas driver Mick Schumacher, who was airlifted to hospital for further examination following a heavy crash at around 240kp/h that left him needing to be helped from the mangled wreckage of his car.

Haas F1 ruled Schumacher out of Sunday’s race and the American team said it would field just one car.

“It’s a circuit that really demands a lot from the drivers, from the cars, from the teams. If you get it wrong, it can be a huge accident,” Perez said. “The last thing I want to think is about the track, and I think going forwards it’s again a discussion.”

While Zhou believes he has an opportunity to be in the points for the second time this season, he will not be “doing anything stupid” as he continues his impressive start to his rookie year with Alfa Romeo Racing.

“The target is always to try and bring the car into the points, and I think both cars have a good opportunity to do that, but I think in the race there could be a lot of carnage going on,” he said. “To keep it calm and clean, and to complete the whole race is my first target, because I don’t want to be doing anything stupid, I just want to be gaining that experience lap by lap.

“I think as a team we have an opportunity to be in the points, but in Jeddah, anything can happen.”