Zhou

By the time he was twelve, Guanyu Zhou had left Shanghai for the United Kingdom, a journey that would define his path into motorsport. Born on May 30, 1999, in Shanghai, China, he came from a wealthy family that could support his ambitions. In 2013, Zhou won the British Super 1 karting championship and the Rotax Max Euro Challenge in the junior category. The following year, he was runner-up in the senior Rotax Max Euro Challenge and competed in the European and World KF championships, while also making his debut in single-seaters. In 2015, driving for Prema Powerteam, he finished as vice-champion in both the Italian F4 Championship and the ADAC Formula 4 series. These results established him as one of the most promising junior drivers of his generation, and set the stage for a rapid ascent through the European feeder series.

By the time he was twelve, Zhou Guanyu had left Shanghai for the United Kingdom, a move that placed him at the center of European karting. In 2013, he won the Super 1 British Kart Championship and the Rotax Max Euro Challenge in the junior category. The following year he was runner-up in the senior Rotax Max Euro Challenge and made his single-seater debut. In 2015, driving for Prema Powerteam, he finished as vice-champion in both the Italian F4 Championship and the ADAC F4 series. He then spent three seasons in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship before moving to Formula 2, where he also remained for three years. Zhou’s breakthrough came in 2021 when he won the Asian Formula 3 Championship with Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema. That title, combined with a third-place finish in the 2021 FIA Formula 2 Championship, opened the door to Formula 1. He joined Alfa Romeo for the 2022 season, becoming the first—and so far only—driver from the People’s Republic of China to race in the category.

Zhou Guanyu made his Formula 1 debut at the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix, becoming the first—and still only—Chinese driver to compete in the sport. Over three seasons with the Alfa Romeo team (rebranded as Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber for 2024), he started 68 races. He scored his first points on debut with a tenth-place finish, and added eight more points finishes across the season, including a career-best eighth at the 2022 Canadian Grand Prix. Zhou recorded two fastest laps during his tenure, one at the 2022 Japanese Grand Prix and another at the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix, but never stood on a podium or secured a pole position. His final season, 2024, was statistically his weakest: he scored four points, all in the first half of the year, and finished 19th in the drivers’ championship. Sauber opted not to renew his contract for 2025, ending his full-time F1 career after 68 starts, zero wins, and zero podiums. He remains the only Chinese driver to have raced in Formula 1.

The number 24 on Zhou Guanyu’s car is not a random choice. It is a tribute to Kobe Bryant, the basketball star Zhou has long idolized. Born into a well-off family in Shanghai, Zhou left China at twelve to study in the United Kingdom and begin his motorsport career, a path supported by Chinese sponsors. In 2024, his journey was captured in a documentary titled The First One, released in Chinese cinemas on April 19, just ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix. Off the track, Zhou has spoken openly about the prejudice he has faced. He has described racist and xenophobic comments from critics who, he argues, dismiss his achievements because of his nationality. In one interview, he contrasted his own final season in Formula 2—where he placed third in the standings—with the praise received by Oliver Bearman, who at the time was outside the F2 top ten. For Zhou, the disparity was evidence that bias against Asian drivers remains entrenched in elite motorsport, something he said “was difficult to change.”

Zhou Guanyu’s final Formula 1 race was the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, ending a 68-start career without a podium but with two fastest laps. He left the cockpit as the only Chinese driver ever to compete in the category. Rather than disappear from the paddock, Zhou moved into a reserve role: first with Scuderia Ferrari in 2025, then with Cadillac Formula 1 Team for 2026. In 2024, a documentary titled The First One premiered in Chinese cinemas on April 19, timed to the China Grand Prix weekend, chronicling his journey from Shanghai to the world championship. He continues to train and attend races as a backup driver, keeping his F1 license active while Cadillac prepares its full entry. Away from the track, Zhou remains based in the United Kingdom, where he moved at age twelve to pursue motorsport. His permanent number 24, a tribute to Kobe Bryant, stays reserved. Whether he returns to a race seat depends on Cadillac’s lineup decisions for 2026.

Zhou has not driven in a Grand Prix since the 2024 season finale in Abu Dhabi, but he remains inside the Formula 1 paddock. He joined Scuderia Ferrari as a reserve driver for 2025, a role that placed him in the simulator and on the pit wall for race weekends. For 2026, he will move to the same position at Cadillac Formula 1 Team, the new American entry that will bring the grid to eleven teams. He is the only Chinese driver ever to have started a Formula 1 race, a fact that has not faded from his identity. Away from the track, Zhou lives in the United Kingdom, where he moved as a twelve-year-old to chase his racing career. He has not announced any plans to race in another series, and his public appearances remain tied to his reserve duties and the occasional documentary screening—The First One, released in Chinese cinemas in April 2024, traced his path from Shanghai to the world championship.

Zhou’s place in Formula 1 history is defined less by his results than by his identity. In 68 starts across three seasons with Alfa Romeo and Sauber, he scored no podiums, no wins, and no poles. His two fastest laps—at the 2022 Japanese Grand Prix and the 2024 Chinese Grand Prix—are statistical footnotes. Yet Zhou remains the only driver from the People’s Republic of China to have competed in Formula 1, a fact that carries weight beyond any points table. His career opened a door that had never existed for Chinese motorsport, and his presence in the paddock, however brief, made visible a country long absent from the sport’s top tier. The documentary The First One, released in Chinese cinemas in April 2024, explicitly frames his journey as a national milestone rather than a purely athletic one. Whether his legacy endures as a pioneer or a parenthesis depends on who follows him.