[F1專題] The last piece of the puzzle in the 2022 driver lineup

In early September, Valtteri Bottas announced his switch to Alfa Romeo. He chose his partner as the last undecided seat in the F1 driver lineup next year. By mid-November, it was finally confirmed that the new owner of this seat would be the current F2 driver Zhou Guanyu of the Alpine Youth Army. It will be the first official F1 driver of Chinese nationality in history, and it will increase the number of countries in Asia with official F1 drivers to five (previously Thailand, Japan, Malaysia, and India).

Zhou Guanyu played in F1 Austria this year to practice FP1 freely. Although it is only one step away from the official debut, Alpine’s current Esteban Ocon has a long-term relationship with the team. Fernando Alonso, who is back this year, also has a one-year contract. If he wants to catch up In order to become an official driver next year, he must find another job.

Alpine said that if Zhou Guanyu has another way out, the team will not hinder him, and his background from a wealthy family is very helpful to compete for the seat of the mid-lower team. In the end, Alfa Romeo is finally finalized and will be the only new driver to debut in F1 next year. It is rumored that the sponsorship money he brought is as high as 25-30 million US dollars, which is a big supplement for the middle and lower reaches of the team, but is the contract for him in exchange for a year or more? There is currently no disclosure.

Alfa Romeo’s parent team is Ferrari, so the latter has the right to place a youth driver in the former, as is the current Antonio Giovinazzi, but he has not made much progress in the team for more than two years (including his predecessor, Sauber). With 1 point, even if Ferrari team leader Mattia Binotto said he was worthy of staying, Alfa Romeo still gave up on him.

The team’s calculation is good: anyway, the team’s current overall ranking is second from the bottom this season, only higher than Haas, who is also in the Ferrari camp, and the performance next year should not be too extreme.) , The money can be used to spend him away-if this nearly 30 million US dollars really only sold for a year, it would be even more cost-effective.

Team leader Frederic Vasseur said: "Zhou Guanyu is a very talented driver. We look forward to helping his talent to be used in F1. We also welcome all new Chinese fans who join us." Talent = money, the team hopes his " "Talent" to evaporate as much as possible... Oh no... It's just use...