Zhou Guanyu reflects on the emotions that took over post F1 Chinese GP, as Valtteri Bottas is positive despite the DNF.
Having left his home country to move to Europe to strengthen his racing career, Stake F1 Team’s Guanyu finally got the chance to race at his home track at Shanghai International Circuit for the first time in his career after much delay due to COVID-19.
The Chinese GP made its return to the F1 calendar for the first time since 2019 and Guanyu was certainly a central figure, being cheered for all around by the home fans. He made it in the Top 10 in SQ3 and fought well in both the sprint and the main races.
Even though he didn’t score points, he was well received by the fans. Post-race, F1 did a small gesture of bringing him on the grid where he got all emotional. “Nothing much I can say, I am so grateful to have so many people in the whole weekend,” said Guanyu. “I tried to stay low-key, I tried to stay away from everything.
“But once you take your helmet off and feel everybody shouting your name, it’s just so emotional. This journey is 20 years; it just reflects so quickly on your mind but I’m just grateful to be here. It’s really difficult, you try to focus on what’s going on, on your job, on your driving but then having them [the fans] always screaming, shouting and also cheering for you – I’m just so, so grateful.
“And on the other hand, on my side – first time coming here, I never drove this track before, I gave it my all this weekend. It’s a shame about qualifying, but then it probably put us in a better position, fighting for something more today. But yeah, proud of SQ3, the sprint race, and then to finish the race in a positive way,” summed up Guanyu.
His teammate Bottas too had a sound weekend where he qualified inside the Top 10 for both the sprint and main races. An engine issue halted his journey while fighting for points which is why he is taking positives from the weekend.
“It has been a good weekend, so it was disappointing in the end,” said Bottas. “In the race, I was there fighting with Hulk [Hulkenberg] all the way but then I lost the drive and engine shut off, it is tough but not much I can do. Absolutely, seems like our pace has been really improving like small steps everytime and all the weekend we were around the Top 10, that is good to see. So, it is promising for us.”
Here’s Zhou Guanyu after the race: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/video.2024-chinese-grand-prix-zhou-savours-his-moment-in-front-of-the-fans-after-first-home-race.1796936345385336983.html
Here’s how F1 Chinese GP panned out
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