F1 Chinese Grand Prix: after watching for years as a ‘fan boy’, Zhou Guanyu hopes to finally make his debut in Shanghai
- Shanghai-born Zhou was just 5 when he watched the first Chinese Grand Prix, where he caught the racing bug and became a fan of Fernando Alonso
- Twenty years on, and after last year’s cancelled race, the Sauber driver hopes to line up alongside the Spaniard, who now drives for Aston Martin
Zhou Guanyu says it will be a “sensational moment” when he takes to the F1 grid at next month’s Chinese Grand Prix, 20 years after he first watched the inaugural event from the grandstands as a child.
Zhou was born and raised in Shanghai, and was taken to the first-ever Grand Prix in China in 2004 when he was just five, where he caught the racing bug and began to idolise Fernando Alonso who was then on the rise to two World Championships with Renault.
He went to each edition until he began racing internationally at 13.
Now 24, Zhou will race for Swiss team Sauber on that same tarmac next month alongside his idol, now at Aston Martin, but memories of his first days as a “fan boy” remain vivid.
“I remember exactly where I was sitting every year,” he told the Post. “The first year I was actually very close to the entry of turn one, but most of the time has been in the main grandstand, because from there you can see turns one to three, and also turn five a little bit as well.
“When I was a kid I had binoculars, and I could zoom into the garage, and it was really exciting to see what was going on behind the scenes, and just dreaming [of being] an F1 driver one day.”
Zhou’s arrival in Shanghai, following next month’s Japanese Grand Prix, is set to make huge waves, with a movie-style documentary on his career, The First One, released on April 19, two days before the race.