Zhou willing to “take risks” in Sakhir Feature Race

Formula 2’s newest race winner Guanyu Zhou says he “won’t sit back” in Saturday’s Feature Race as he bids to double his tally of victories at the first opportunity. Qualifying in fifth, Zhou says he has a lot less to lose than those around him in the 2020 Drivers’ Championship and asserted that he will not be afraid to take risks in the race.

Zhou is currently eighth in the standings with five podiums, including victory last time out in the Sochi Sprint Race. The UNI-Virtuosi man is less than three points off seventh-placed Louis Delétraz, who qualified back in P11.

“I will just go for moves tomorrow,” Zhou said. “I have my first victory now, that is done. Now, I want to gain as many positions as I can and show exactly what I can do in the last two rounds.

“There are guys out there who are looking more at the overall picture of the Championship and will maybe be a little bit gentler, but I can take more risks, that’s not a problem for me.”

Zhou has two front row starts in 2020 and feels like he could have added to this tally in Bahrain, saying that he felt he had the potential for P2 had it not been for stoppages during Qualifying. Yuki Tsunoda span at Turn 12 at the beginning of the session and Giuliano Alesi stopped with mechanical issues at the end - both causing red flags.

Despite that, Zhou remains optimistic ahead of the race, given the pace he showed.

“It was pretty messy to be honest,” he continued. “My first lap was my best overall, but unfortunately that was the lap when Tsunoda span right in front of me at Turn 12. I did another push lap, but the tyres weren’t good enough.

“The potential was there and I was equal with Callum (Ilott) in the first sector, pretty much. I wouldn't say I’d have gotten pole position, but we definitely had the pace for P2. I don't know what happened on the second set of tyres because everybody was struggling, Maybe the track conditions changed, because not many people improved.

“I made a mistake on my first lap of the second run and then I went for another lap and we got the red flag. I think P5 is a good place to fight from though and the main thing is that all of my championship rivals, apart from my teammate, are starting behind me.”