Guanyu Zhou

Having started karting when he was eight years old in China, Zhou moved to the UK in 2012 for a more competitive racing environment. In 2013 racing with the Sheffield-based Strawberry Racing team, he won both the national Super 1 Rotax Max Junior Championship and Rotax Max Euro Challenge, beating current McLaren driver Lando Norris. For his final year of karting, Zhou finished 2nd in Rotax Max Senior Euro Challenge and participated in selected rounds of WSK Champions Cup and the KF2 European Championship.[7]

Zhou joined Prema Powerteam for the 2015 Italian F4 Championship. After winning a hat trick in round 2 Monza and consistently finishing on the podium, Zhou ended the season as vice-champion and best rookie, beating highly rated Robert Shwartzman and David Beckmann. He also competed in selected rounds of the German ADAC F4 Championship, achieving two podium finishes in Spielberg and Spa.

Zhou joined team Motopark for the 2016 FIA European F3 Championship. After a successful season opener rounds in Paul Ricard and Hungaroring by finishing in 2 podium positions, Zhou struggled to find pace during the 2nd half of the season, finishing in 13th for his maiden season.

Zhou stayed for a second F3 season by rejoining Prema, and improved to 8th in standing with 5 podium finishes. Season highlights included leading race 3 in Spa and holding back Lando Norris in the penultimate round.

After a speculation of a possible move to F2, Zhou remained with Prema for a third F3 season. After a maiden career win in Pau, a podium in Hungaroring and three consecutive podium finishes in Zandvoort, Zhou found him standing in 2nd, just a point behind teammate Marcus Armstrong. Despite strong qualifying pace in Spa and Silverstone, Zhou suffered 4 consecutive retirements with a series of teammate collisions and tyre punctures. Zhou won his second F3 race in Hockenheim, finishing the season 8th in standing, with 3 poles, and 2 wins.

In December 2018, Zhou joined UNI-Virtuosi Racing along with Luca Ghiotto for the 2019 FIA Formula 2 Championship. [8] Zhou achieved a maiden feature race podium in Barcelona after a strong qualifying and leading most of the race before dropping to third due to tyre degradation. He subsequently achieved another 3rd in the Monaco sprint race by overtaking Artem Markelov at the start. At Silverstone, Zhou scored his first Formula 2 pole position, becoming the first Chinese driver to do so. Later, Zhou also scored third place in the sprint race at Paul Ricard. In the feature race at Silverstone, he lost positions to his teammate and race winner Luca Ghiotto and to the second place driver Nicholas Latifi. In Abu Dhabi, he also finished third with fastest lap in Race 1. He finished seventh in the championship and was subsequently awarded the Anthoine Hubert Award for being the highest-finishing rookie.

Zhou remained at UNI-Virtuosi for the 2020 season, partnering Ferrari Driver Academy member Callum Ilott. Zhou took his second Formula 2 pole position at the opening race at the Red Bull Ring.[9] However, his car suffered electronic problems whilst leading the feature race, causing him to drop to 17th.[10]

Zhou won his first F2 race in Sochi, after Aitken and Ghiotto crashed at lap 5 of the sprint race, causing a premature end of the race.

In mid 2014, he joined the Ferrari Driver Academy while still karting.[11] He stayed in the Ferrari Driver Academy until the end of 2018. In 2019, he joined the Renault Sport Academy and served as a development driver for the Renault Formula One Team.[12] In 2020, Zhou was promoted to Test Driver for the Renault Formula One Team.[13]

He also participated in the Virtual Grand Prix Series for Renault, an FIA launched Esports series in place of the F1 Grands Prix postponed or cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. He won the Bahrain Virtual Grand Prix, the first Virtual GP of the replacement series.[14] However, this series does not award any points to the Formula 1 World Championship. He, along with Oscar Piastri and Christian Lundgaard, tested the Renault R.S.18 at the Bahrain International Circuit in 2020. This could pave the way for him to become the first Chinese driver to start an F1 race.

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position points) (Races in italics indicate points for the fastest lap of top ten finishers)

^‡ Half points awarded as less than 75% of race distance was completed.

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

* Season still in progress.