Zhou not yet giving thought to next year’s F1 plans

The rookie, who became the first full-time Chinese F1 driver when he joined the grid alongside Valtteri Bottas this season, admits his season has been “quite up and down.”

But says he feels “quite confident that we can still do the job this season” and isn’t “too worried about what's coming up in next year's plan yet.”

Zhou said: “It’s still the beginning of this season. So I have no plans yet towards the future or what’s the plan yet. But I quite enjoy my moments so far in Formula 1.

“Of course, it's been quite up and down, because due to the last few races reasons. But overall, I feel very happy and very nice to be here. And I feel like there's still plenty of races for me to develop my ability in Formula 1 yet.

“So I'm not really too worried about the future yet. And I think right now I’ll just try to focus on getting myself up to speed and bring the team double points finishes.

“And then if everything plays out as planned I see no reason what’s the future going to be but I feel quite confident that we can still do the job this season and I’m not too worried about what's coming up in next year's plan yet.”

Guanyu Zhou, Alfa Romeo C42

Photo by: Erik Junius

Zhou has scored one point so far this season at the opening round in Bahrain, but has since failed to make an impact on the top 10, having suffered consecutive retirements in Miami and Spain and sitting 18th in the drivers’ championship.

Bottas, meanwhile, is eighth in the standings, having only fallen outside the points in Saudi Arabia when he was forced to retire due to a cooling issue.

Last time out in Monaco, Zhou had a “pretty scary” slide when trying to pass Yuki Tsunoda exiting the tunnel.

He did brilliantly to catch the car and avoid crashing before quickly quipping over team radio: “I need new pants after that one!”

The Chinese driver started his first Monaco Grand Prix from last place on the grid after failing to get a lap in after the red flag in Q1, but rose to as high as 14th in the opening stages.

He dropped back to 16th after the red flag stoppage for Mick Schumacher’s crash, and found himself struggling to get an overtake done on AlphaTauri driver Tsunoda, before the slide in an attempt to overtake down the inside into the Nouvelle Chicane.