F1 News: Zhou Guanyu Highlights Racial Abuse He Received In 2022 Season
Zhou Guanyu, who made his F1 debut in 2022 with Alfa Romeo, has spoken out about the racial abuse he has received since stepping up into his "dream" role.
Guanyu has spoken to The Race about his experiences, referencing Sergio Perez's recent comments about how he feels Mexican drivers are treated badly. Guanyu explained:
“The people in the paddock were always okay, it’s more on the outside, the fans on the internet, the keyboard writers, they are being a bit harsh or unfair.
“It’s not something I expected, where you reach your dream and then you get all this hate for no reason.
“It’s great to use this [2022] season to kind of just change my picture around a little bit, let people know me better.
“I read what Checo said. If you’re a Chinese driver it’s even worse, probably twice as worse than what’s affected Mexican drivers!
Guanyu continued to reflect on his whole career so far, he added:
“I’ve lived in this kind of situation many times in my career. I’m used to how to get rid of all this unnecessary attention, to just focus purely on the job.
“When this happens the only way I try to deal with it is to keep it quiet, just to do the things on track, do the job, which is the most efficient way.
“But it’s still quite unfair or bad to see how people are still judged by all nationalities. It’s definitely not the way we should go forward.”
The "Rookie of the Year" went on to discuss his F1 debut at the Bahrain Grand Prix where he qualified in Q2 and finished 10th, getting his first points. He explained:
“I was in tears because it was very emotional what happened. Before the race, I was very nervous because you don’t think the first race is exciting. It was just nervous, intense.
“But I finished in the points, and it’s kind of just a huge achievement for my side. It’s quite crazy how this journey has been, because it’s not been a smooth journey.
Zhou continued to explain that a lot of the hate he was getting online was people saying that he only got the promotion into Formula 1 due to his race. However, he added how he has worked his way up the ranks just as everybody else has done.
“From karting onwards, I had to fight my way through. You can’t just go to F2, or F3, and expect to be in F1 without showing your results. I had to work my way from outside the top 10 and then to be fighting for a championship in every series.
“It’s quite impressive. [And doing this] with a different culture, different city and country you live, you have a lonely time, just because you don’t know that area or people.You have to just make your friends and get to know how to live there.
“In Bahrain, when you go into the race with a big tag on you, seeing all this rubbish, and then to be scoring points, getting to Q2, was a release of this pressure from the winter. I was happy and I kind of started to enjoy being here.”