(Motorsport) Chinese F2 driver Guanyu Zhou will replace Antonio Giovinazzi at Alfa Romeo for the 2022 Formula 1 season, becoming the first full-time Chinese F1 driver with the Italian team introducing an all-new driver line-up for next year. The 22 year old will be the only rookie of the Formula 1 grid next year and has previously been a reserve driver for Alpine.
Speaking after his announcement, Zhou said “To be the first ever Chinese driver in Formula 1 is a breakthrough for Chinese motorsport history. I dreamt from a young age of climbing as high as I can in a sport that I am passionate about and now the dream has come true.” Alfa Romeo team boss Frederic Vasseur added “He is a very talented driver, as his results in F2 have shown, and we are looking forward to helping his talent flourish even more in Formula 1."
With the likes of Bottas and Zhou being the two drivers for Alfa Romeo in the 2022 season, Antonio Giovinazzi’s time at the F1 grid has come to an end for the time being. The 27 year old joined Alfa Romeo in 2019 and the Ferrari backed driver even out qualified Raikkonen this year but scored fewer points than the veteran Finn. Giovinazzi has finished in the top-10 only eight times with his best performance coming in the 2019 Brazilian GP where he finished fifth. With his departure, Formula 1 will not feature an Italian in the drivers line-up for the 2022 season.
With Zhou joining Alfa Romeo, the grid for all 10 teams are now confirmed, with the season promising to be vastly different due to the change of rules and different cars. The Chinese driver has been plying his trade in F2 for the last three seasons, finishing 7th in 2019, sixth in 2020 and is currently second in 2021 behind Alpine driver Oscar Piastri. Out of the 10 teams, Alfa Romeo are only one of the three who have changed their line-ups with Mercedes signing George Russell as Bottas’ replacement while Williams replaced Russell with Alex Albon.
Also read: Lewis Hamilton makes epic comeback at Sao Paulo GP to reduce Verstappen’s title lead to 14 points
