Guanyu Zhou

Guanyu Zhou (周冠宇 in Chinese; born 30 May 1999), otherwise known as Zhou Guan Yu, is a Chinese racing driver who competes with UNI-Virtuosi in the 2021 FIA Formula 2 Championship. Zhou made his F2 debut during the 2019 season having become a member of the Renault Sport Academy, after leaving the Ferrari Driver Academy the previous year.

Zhou enjoyed a strong maiden F2 campaign with UNI-Virtuosi, finishing the season as the best rookie in the field and hence became the inaugural winner of the Anthoine Hubert Award. The Chinese racer was duly retained by Virtuosi Racing for the 2020 season, partnering Callum Ilott for his sophomore season.

2020 saw Zhou finally claim his maiden F2 victory at the 2020 Sochi Sprint Race, although his title hopes had faded in the condensed 2020 campaign by that point in the season. As a result both he and fellow RSA member Christian Lundgaard would be overlooked for a seat in F1 for 2021 with Alpine, meaning both would stay in F2 instead.

Background
Zhou began his career in karting, before graduating to the Italian F4 Championship in 2015, alongside a campaign in the ADAC Formula 4 Championship. Second in the Italian F4 Series saw the Chinese youngster attract the attention of the Ferrari Driver Academy, with Zhou signed up for the 2016 season. That season would see Zhou move into the FIA Formula 3 European Championship, as well as the Toyota Racing Series.

Ferrari Fantasy
Zhou finished his maiden F3 campaign in thirteenth, and duly signed up for a second season on 2017. The Chinese racer duly improved to eighth with a handful of podiums, before entering his third and final season in F3 in 2018. Zhou duly claimed his first wins in F3 en-route to eighth for a second consecutive season, with Zhou opting to leave the series at the end of the season.

Formula 2 History
Zhou would get his first taste of a Formula 2 car at the 2018 Yas Marina Test, taking part with Russian Time alongside Luca Ghiotto. He was duly signed by Russian Time's replacement/operators UNI-Virtuosi for the 2019 season, partnering Ghiotto for the full campaign. The start to Zhou's maiden F2 campaign was a strong one, with the Chinese racer scoring fastest lap and tenth in the 2019 Bahrain Feature Race, before battling up to fourth in the Bahrain Sprint as teammate Ghiotto secured victory.

Virtuosi Virtues: 2019
Zhou's first taste of the Baku City Circuit proved to be a problematic one, as he retired in the Feature race after colliding with Juan Manuel Correa, before failing to score in the Sprint. He would, however, bounce back at the 2019 Barcelona Feature Race by scoring his maiden podium finish, having led the early and middle stages of the race after a strong start. Another strong race followed in both the Barcelona Sprint and the Monaco Feature races, before Zhou once again battled to the podium in the 2019 Monaco Sprint Race, and would narrowly miss-out on a late fight for victory.

Zhou's strong form continued into the following Le Castellet weekend, with the Chinese racer fighting for the podium in both races, although he would only secure a trip to the rostrum in the Sprint, after being mugged for second late-on by Correa. Zhou featured less prominently at the Red Bull Ring round, finishing sixth and eight in those two races, before securing his maiden pole position for the 2019 Silverstone Feature Race. Unfortunately for the Chinese racer his hopes of victory were demolished after early moves on him by Nicholas Latifi and teammate Ghiotto, although the Chinese racer would hold onto third after a late-race challenge from Sérgio Sette Câmara.

After finishing eighth in the Silverstone Sprint, Zhou would round out the first part of the 2019 season with a pair of ninth place finishes at the Hungaroring. After the abandonment and later cancellation of the Spa meeting as a result of the death of Anthoine Hubert, Zhou would retire from the Monza Feature, having fought for the lead with Callum Ilott at the start. The Chinese racer duly responded with an excellent run to fourth in the 2019 Monza Sprint Race, making numerous overtakes late-on having preserved his tyres.

A quieter weekend in Sochi followed, with Zhou securing a handful of points in both races. At the season finale Zhou would challenge for victory in the 2019 Yas Marina Feature Race, having battled with Nobuharu Matsushita as they opted for an alternate tyre strategy throughout. An eighth place finish in the final Sprint race of the season left Zhou in seventh in the Championship with 140 points.

At the end of season awards event in Monte-Carlo, Monaco, the FIA and F2 announced the creation of the Anthoine Hubert Award, which was to be handed to the best rookie driver in each F2 season. Zhou hence became the Award's maiden winner, made all the more poignant given their connection through the Renault Sport Academy.

Sophomore Success?: 2020
Zhou was re-signed by Virtuosi for the 2020 season, taking over as lead driver alongside Callum Ilott for the full season.

Alpine Adventures?: 2021
Zhou would again be retained by UNI-Virtuosi for the 2021 season, with the Chinese racer getting a third new teammate in the form of Felipe Drugovich.

Post Formula 2 Career
The Renault F1 Team announced that Zhou would serve as their test driver in Formula One for the 2020 Season, and would take part in at least two Free Practice sessions. Zhou would retain his testing role in F1 for 2021 as Renault rebranded their team to Alpine, while also claiming the title in the F3 Asian Championship during the winter.

Full Formula 2 Record
Shown below are a series of tables outlining 's career in Formula 2 in statistical form.

Formula 2 Entries
The list below includes all of the teams and cars, as well as overall finishing positions for during their F2 career:

Career Results
Below is a table showing 's full Formula 2 record.


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