Guanyu Zhou remembers having an on-track altercation with current Haas driver Mick Schumacher back during European F3 in 2018.
Zhou and Schumacher have raced each other multiple times throughout the course of their junior careers. They battled each other on track starting in karts, all the way to Formula 2.
In 2018, both Zhou and Schumacher were competing in the European F3 series, and were teammates at Prema. The former however, recalls one weekend in particular, which he believes was his best in terms of qualifying. In spite of that, he left that weekend point less, after being taken out by his teammate on track.
It was a race weekend at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. He was just a point behind the series leader Dan Ticktum ahead of the outing in Belgium, but it proved to be a disastrous weekend for the Chinese driver, as he lost out of a lot of points in his bid to win the Title.
“At Spa I had my best qualifying,” Zhou said as quoted by GP Racing magazine. “But I came out of the weekend with zero points. In two of the races, I was taken out by a teammate. And then, things just went a bit weird on my side.”
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Mick Schumacher Title victory in 2018 surprised every fan
Zhou didn’t mention Schumacher’s name but it was the German driver who had the on-track altercation with him. Coming into Spa, Schumacher was far off being the Championship leader. However, it turned out to be defining weekend for the now 22-year old.
Schumacher hadn’t won a single race coming into that weekend. However, he managed to win eight out of the next twelve races, to have himself crowned as Champion. In fact, he won five consecutive races with three of those coming at Nürburgring, and two at Spielberg. Zhou’s poor weekend meanwhile, saw his momentum slip and finish P8 in the Championship.
Schumacher is known for taking time to adjust to a car or series. Even in his Title winning 2020 campaign, it wasn’t until round six in Barcelona, did he truly establish himself as a contender. After winning the F2 crown that year, Schumacher landed himself a seat in Haas.
Zhou too joined F2 after his European F3 campaign. He stayed in the series till 2021, and achieved his best finish that year (P3). In 2o22, Zhou followed Schumacher into F1, after signing for Hinwil based outfit Alfa Romeo.
