Zhou Guanyu expects ‘goosebumps’ as Stake Sauber star eyes ‘very exciting’ F1 first

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Stake F1 Team driver Zhou Guanyu expects ‘goosebumps’ when the Sauber star finally gets to race in a Chinese GP with the Shanghai round back on the calendar from 2024.

Formula 1 has not visited China since the Covid-19 pandemic saw the Shanghai International Circuit cancel the race in 2020. Ongoing restrictions in the nation would force F1 to abandon the event in 2021, 2022 and 2023, too, after initially announcing the race’s return each time.

But, five years on from the series’ last visit, F1 returns to Shanghai in 2024 to afford Zhou his first home Chinese GP. Sauber promoted the 24-year-old from Formula 2 in the 2022 season to partner Valtteri Bottas while the team now operating as Stake F1 Team ran as Alfa Romeo.

Zhou Guanyu expects ‘goosebumps’ at Stake Sauber star’s first Chinese GP

Zhou has only raced on single-year contracts throughout the Chinese talent’s time in F1 with Sauber. The Hinwil, Switzerland-based outfit also only signed his deal for the 2024 season in September. Sauber opted to retain Zhou against promoting F2 champion, Theo Pourchaire.

Now, the chance of a first Chinese GP has already excited Zhou ahead of the Stake F1 Team driver hitting the circuit in April. It is a happy place for the Shanghai native, who won tickets for the maiden Chinese GP in 2004. Rubens Barrichello won the debut 2004 race for Ferrari.

He told RacingNews365: “I think it is going to be goosebumps when we get to that weekend, starting with the first session on Friday. It is a place with memories for me because, as a kid, I remember the first event I attended was 2004 when we had the first Grand Prix in China.”

The 2004 Chinese GP inspired Zhou Guanyu’s desire to be an F1 driver

Attending the inaugural Chinese GP in 2004 is what sparked Zhou’s desire to be an F1 driver. He then started racing karts aged eight, before moving to England and winning national and European titles. Zhou transitioned to single-seaters in 2014 and finished third in F2 in 2021.

Zhou added: “I was in the grandstand just before Turn 1, actually watching and having this [feeling of], ‘I really want to be a driver like that one day’, and try to understand what is the best way to start my own career by karting.

“It is such a memory place and knowing that in my first season in Formula 1, there wasn’t a Chinese Grand Prix. Firstly, because I never imagined I would be in Formula 1 one day and it was the thing I was looking forward to the most.

“But it hasn’t happened for years. So, I had to fight for it to make sure I had a home race and it is finally coming. It is really exciting to understand how [many fans] are going to be there and the crowd is going to be excited. It is going to be a very exciting event.”

Zhou has so far contested 44 Grand Prix since becoming a Formula 1 driver for Sauber, while operating as Alfa Romeo, in 2022. But no race so far will eclipse Zhou’s first Chinese GP this April for Stake F1 Team. He is the first, and so far only, full-time Chinese driver to race in F1.