With the official announcement of Alfa Romeo, the ownership of the last driver's seat in F1 2022 has finally been settled. Unsurprisingly, this seat was won by our driver Zhou Guanyu, who became the first Chinese driver to sign an official contract with an F1 team. Although there have been too many spoilers before, which has reduced the shock of the news, this moment is still very memorable.
After the news was officially released, the mainstream media of F1 held a positive attitude towards this incident for the first time. F1 CEO Domenikali praised Zhou Guanyu, "Zhou is an incredible genius, China now has a home hero to cheer, he will make all Chinese fans excited in 2022". Indeed, China's huge market is something that no global sport can ignore. Committed to becoming the world's top sport, F1 has never stopped exploring the Chinese market over the years. Although affected by the epidemic, China may miss F1 competitions for three consecutive years, in the case of F1 hosting qualifications being competed for by many parties, F1 still renewed its contract with Shanghai in advance until 2025, firmly supports China's hosting of F1 competitions, and actively explores the possibility of hosting a second F1 competition in China. F1 understands the enormous potential of this market, which is larger than the entire European market.
After that, the media was more discussing the identity of Zhou Guanyu's paid driver ($30 million sponsorship) and associated with another question, whether it was fair. This involves two of Guanyu's rivals, Alfa Romeo's active driver Jovinaz, and Piastri, who is currently at the top of the F2 table. Zhou Guanyu's arrival made Jovinaz lose his seat as an F1 driver next year, to which he indignantly said that this was decided by the "money rule". In fact, Giovinaz did not have any outstanding achievements in the three years of F1, and if it were not for his status as an Italian driver, Ferrari would not have been so deliberately cultivated. Leclerc, who entered F1 a year later, has grown into a brother of Ferrari, and he can only follow Kimi, who has no desires, and can only complain about himself. And Piastri as another talented driver after F1 Leclerc and Russell, Alpine naturally will not let go easily, but his own team does not have a seat, can lend to other teams, but sooner or later to come back, Alfa Romeo certainly can not make the mistake of sponsorship and not to train drivers for others. So Zhou Guanyu is certainly not the best, but it is the most appropriate.
Therefore, the topics raised around Zhou Guanyu also reflect the complex feelings and ambivalence of the West for China's rise. On the one hand, they need China's huge market and the goods that China provides to the world; on the other hand, they are afraid of China's strong economic power and the loss of jobs in competition. But just as F1's quest for speed never ends, human society will eventually move forward and China and the world will eventually become one. Zhou Guanyu's appearance on the F1 field is another breakthrough, under his encouragement, there will be more Chinese children in the future to devote themselves to motorsport, which will further promote the development of motorsport in China, but also drive the rise in F1 attention in China, which will be a win-win result. I wish Zhou Guanyu all the best on the road to F1.