“I Watched Michael Schumacher”: Zhou Guanyu Discloses How Childhood Game Turned Into Profession Amidst Inspiration From Legends

Zhou Guanyu has often spoken about his admiration for legends such as Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher. However, recently, the Chinese driver shed more light on the same by writing a first-person story for The Player’s Tribune. The 24-year-old explained how he turned a childhood game of playing with toy cars into a profession while watching his favorite idols race each other on television.

“I’d pick my favorite little toy cars off the table and push them around the carpet as I watched Michael and Fernando and Kimi win races. I knew that’s all I wanted to do,” explained Guanyu.

After stating the same, Guanyu shed more light on when he got the first sense that his dream could become a reality. He stated that his first signs came when Alpine contacted him to drive in one of the free practice sessions during the 2021 Austin GP.

As it so happened, it was Alonso’s car that Guanyu drove during the session, the driver he grew up idolizing. While the nerves were high for the Chinese driver, he stated that Alonso made him as comfortable as possible.

Even though Guanyu was impressive during the practice session, it was not until the end of 2021 that he received a call from Alfa Romeo for a seat on their team. The 24-year-old believes that he cannot put the feeling he had at the time into words as it meant “everything” to him that he would be the first Chinese driver to compete in F1.

Once he made it to F1, he immediately hit the ground running as he scored six points in his rookie season in 2022. Guanyu has also carried on a similar level of consistency in 2023, scoring another six valuable championship points for Alfa Romeo.

Zhou Guanyu continues to improve from strength to strength

Since Zhou Guanyu continued to impress even in this season, Alfa Romeo extended his contract by another year to the end of the 2024 campaign. The future seems bright for Guanyu as there are also rumors that Chinese automotive company Geely is keen to join F1 and have the 24-year-old as one of their two drivers.

According to gpblog.com, Geely is keen to acquire the Aston Martin F1 team. Since Guanyu is the only Chinese driver on the grid, there is an increased likelihood that Geely may decide to sign the current Alfa Romeo racer as one of their drivers.