Zhou Guanyou approaches 2023 being less nervous
Zhou Guanyu believes that he feels much less pressure as he approaches his second season with the Alfa Romeo Formula 1 team than before his first season in the premier category in 2022.
In the standings, with a tenth place finish, for his first Grand Prix of his career last year, Zhou indicated feeling less nervous for his second season in F1.
After making a convincing start in 2022, the year was punctuated by numerous reliability issues, preventing the team from scoring more points in the second half of the season and the Chinese driver from proving himself against Bottas, his teammate.
When our colleagues from the newspaper Autosport asked him if he approached this second chapter with less pressure, he replied: « Certainly less. This year, of course, I have to perform, I have to take a good step forward, and I have to do much better than last year. Last year, everything was new to me, and I didn’t know what I could do. »
You can do as many simulations as you can, but it’s not the same thing on the track, and also managing the pressures. Here with the team, along with the outside world, for me last year was the pressure I really needed to, let’s say, show my potential.
Upon arriving this season, everything seemed a little more familiar to me. That’s the experience. So I’m confident that on the starting grid in Bahrain, I won’t be as nervous as I was during the first race of last season. I had never felt so nervous in my life! But it turned out to be an incredible day. This year, it will certainly be less.
Objective: More points in 2023
The Chinese driver wants to score more points and more consistently in order to establish himself in the Sauber team in the long term before it becomes Audi in 2026.
Being more consistent is definitely the key. Last year, I think I should have scored more points than I did because we had a lot of reliability issues.
« This season, we’ll see. I hope we’ll have a very solid car, so we can earn a lot more points than we did last season, and then try to finish where we finished in the constructors’ championship. »
« It will be great for the team. If I can show my potential, I hope to stay in F1 for a much longer time and have a longer contract. I think that’s always the goal for all drivers. In the first few years, it’s very normal to have a one-year contract or more, but after a few years, you get a longer contract.
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Meanwhile, the team unveiled its new car for the last time under the Alfa Romeo colors.
