In the early morning of March 21, 2022, it was a sleepless night for most Chinese F1 fans. In this event, which is called the "world's three major sports events" together with the Olympic Games and the World Cup, for the first time in 73 years, a Chinese athlete has stood on the track and won points in an official competition.
Zhou Guanyu, the 15th starting point, surpassed "son of the car king" Mick Schumacher on lap 7, and then he overtook Alpen, and then in the historic moment, Zhou Guanyu completed the overtaking of Hamilton, the current top driver in F1. After the game, the official Microblog of the People's Daily spoke out and congratulated Zhou Guanyu. In an interview, Zhou Guanyu himself also said that "words can no longer express his inner feelings, and he is very excited and proud."
As the world's top motorsport, getting points in F1 is not an easy task. In the race, it is not only the driver's driving skills that are tested, but also the design, performance and tuning of the car; the strategic arrangement in the race; and the cooperation with teammates; and a little luck. Zhou Guanyu's Alfa Romeo is not a strong team, ranking second from the bottom of 10 teams last year, which makes it more difficult for him to win points.
How hard is it to drive F1?
The F1 car is considered one of the most amazing machines of modern civilization. Unlike rally and motorhomes. Formula 1 is narrow and cramped in order to speed up, and the cockpit design is narrow and cramped. The riders sitting inside may not be tall, but they are definitely one of the strongest athletes in the world.
The top speed of an F1 car can reach more than 300 kilometers per hour, which is still limited by a series of conditions such as track and tire friction and fuel load. Because of the enormous centrifugal force to bear when cornering, F1 drivers need very strong bodies. It is said that when braking, the rider's body is subjected to more than 5 G of forward deceleration force. The head with the hard hat is exposed to the cab, and the centrifugal force it can withstand is even more imaginable. If there is no strong neck strength. You can't even look forward steadily.
In addition to the neck, the arm muscles are also very important, under the action of air downforce at high speeds, turning the steering wheel will be quite laborious, at speeds of more than 300 kilometers per hour, each turn of the steering wheel requires nearly 30 kg of force.
In addition, each race is held for two to three hours, and the drivers have to stay focused in the narrow cab at all times. When racing in summer heat, riders in thick driving suits face more than 4 kilograms of dehydration and fat consumption in the cabin at temperatures of nearly 60 degrees. Although the way to constantly replenish water during the game, if it is not well trained, it will definitely be shocked by dehydration.
(Sophisticated F1 racing wheel)
If you can do all of this, it is only the basic condition, in the long race, not only to be ready to radio calls with the team, to understand the situation on the field and the team strategy, but also to deal with various "unexpected situations" in the car at any time. Tire punctures, engine problems, etc. are very challenging for the driver's psychology and coping.
Chinese driver's F1 dream road
Most of today's F1 drivers are European players, who grew up participating in various karting races, and after making their mark in various Formula races, they were included in their own training program by the team, and finally stepped onto the ultimate stage of F1 step by step.
Before Zhou Guanyu, there were many Chinese drivers who were infinitely close to F1. Li Jianying, a Hong Kong-based driver known as the "Hong Kong version of Schumacher", was a test driver for The Minadi Team. Dong Hebin, a Chinese driver who represented China in the A1 Grand Prix, has competed in GP2 races with Renault Racing. There is also Jiang Tengyi, who is 17 years old and is trying out at bmw racing. Cheng Congfuye, known as the "Racing Genius of China", was part of McLaren Racing's driver development programme. But none of them have actually stepped onto the stage of an official F1 competition.
(Chinese rider Ma Qinghua)
The Chinese driver closest to F1 is Ma Qinghua, who was a participant in the F1 test race and had signed a contract with the HRT team at the end of 2012, but because the team did not pay the new season F1 participation fee, the team did not participate, ma Qinghua regretted missing the opportunity to become the first person in China's F1.
The highest achievement of Asian drivers in F1 is Japan's Takuma Sato. He has played in 87 races since 2002 and has only earned points 14 times. (However, the scoring rules were different then than they are now, and only the top eight earned points.) It can be seen that although Zhou Guanyu is only in the tenth place, the significance of obtaining points this time is no less than that of Wang Zhizhi in the NBA to score the first goal of the Chinese. However, Sato stepped onto the podium in 2004, which will also be one of the goals of Zhou Guanyu's future efforts.
Will we see the first Chinese to reach the podium in F1 in the future? Or even the first Chinese driver's race winner? Zhou Guanyu's debut brought not only a point, but also a beginning of hope.
Xiaoxiang Morning News reporter Wu Chengding