Zhou still looking to “improve” in races

UNI-Virtuosi rookie Guanyu Zhou has been the model of consistency during his debut Formula 2 campaign, but maintains a fierce desire to translate this into more podiums and that all elusive race win.

The Chinese racer has been a regular in the top ten this season, finishing outside of the points on just four occasions and failing to score across a weekend just once. This has included four podiums, but so far yielded no race wins, with the added challenge of the Pirelli tyres proving a tricky one for the 20-year-old to conquer.

“In terms of the Feature Races, I think we have been unlucky in the last few, especially in Italy” he began. “I think where we need to improve most is in the races, I think that is down to experience as well. The guys around me are great drivers and they have more experience with tyre management than I do.”

That assessment seems slightly harsh on the Renault Academy Driver, who is the highest placed rookie in the Championship standings, sitting seventh on 122 points. Zhou has proven to be a strong Qualifier and it is here where he has arguably excelled most, netting five top three starts, including pole at Silverstone.

He would eventually finish that race in third, as the more experience duo of Luca Ghiotto and Nicholas Latifi stole the two spots above him. Despite maintaining a steely determination to improve on a positive year, the Renault junior insists he is in fact content at how his debut season has gone, admitting that he was not expecting to be as competitive as he has been.

He continued: “It has been good. We didn't expect to already be fighting for podiums or race wins so early on. The beginning of the season was like a rollercoaster. We started off well in Bahrain, but then Baku was a disaster, before we came back strongly in Barcelona. Since then, it has been quite good.

“The races in particular have been challenging. From Free Practice to Quali I am quite confident with the tyres. In general, I am quite happy with how it has gone. Hopefully, I can get my first win at some point in the final races.”

The battle in Silverstone with his teammate, Ghiotto, is one of a few between the pair this year and Zhou says that he has revelled in working alongside the Italian, praising his knowledge, teamwork and racing ability.

“I didn't know Luca before the Abu Dhabi tests last year, but after that, we have been quite good together, on-and-off track. We have never had a crash together as a teammates, but we have had some nice battles. We always keep it nice and clean, which is a good thing.

“The target is to get as much information and data from him as possible. I think that he has definitely helped me with checking the data and showing me where to improve. Working with the team is really nice too.”

Hopefully, I can get my first win at some point in the final races.