Guanyu Zhou has upgraded his expectations for his sophomore year in F1 with Alfa Romeo, but the Chinese charger is also aiming for “less mistakes and more consistency” in 2023.
As China’s first F1 driver, Zhou attracted a fair amount of curiosity from pundits and fans alike when he joined the grid last season.
It was a well-known fact that the 23-year-old owed in large part his drive with Alfa to a generous financial support package. But even though he scored points in just three races in 2022, a shortfall due mainly to Alfa’s reliability issues, Zhou was given very good marks by the team boss Frédéric Vasseur.
The rookie’s level of performance also trended higher during the season, so it was common sense for the Hinwil squad to retain Zhou’s services.
But with a second season among motorsport’s elite come higher expectations, as the Alfa charger himself makes clear.
“As a rookie Formula 1 is always very challenging – I went through a lot of different situations, had my highs and lows,” Zhou explained during the presentation on Tuesday of Alfa’s 2023 car.
“I’m happy with what we achieved in the first year and definitely expectations for this year are higher.
“It’s quite simple that I want to achieve more points finishes for the team, and for myself, and have a higher finish. P8 was my best finish in F1 so this year a top six would be amazing, and also to get through to Q3 more often.
“I think we have the package and the car to do so; it’s still going to be very tight in the midfield, so it’ll be about small details. Less mistakes and more consistency will pay off.”
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With his rookie year done and dusted, Zhou is also approaching his second season with a reinforced sense of confidence.
“Last year, in Bahrain, and the first few races I was so nervous and this year I feel much more relaxed,” he said.
“To face these tracks and challenges again I think it’ll be a completely different mentality, with the mental approach.”
Zhou spent part of F1’s winter break in his homeland in China where he was able to catch up with family and friends. He says that he put the down time to good use.
“We tried to switch fully off because from my side, of course, was the two years haven’t been back [to China], and obviously family and friends,” he said.
“So that was a very nice time spending there over the holidays, and I really feel more ready than ever because it was first great to catch up with all the people back home in China.
“Coming back here, I feel like I was able to train harder, put even more effort in because I feel like I had a nice winter break and now it’s time to work. So it was a lovely time over the last two months.”
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Zhou aiming for ‘less mistakes and more consistency’ in 2023 F1i.com.
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