This weekend, the 2022F1 Australian Grand Prix will kick off at Melbourne's Albert Park. Zhou Guanyu, who wears a "blue and white porcelain" helmet, will usher in the third F1 race of his career here.
Last month, he made his debut as China's first F1 official driver in the season opener. Started behind, overtaking continuously, and even surpassed the "Seven Champions" Hamilton at one point, the tenth dash.
"Crossing the line", "getting points", "doing a beautiful job", hearing the sound coming from the radio, Zhou Guanyu twitched his nose in thanks. Earning a point was originally a goal he had set for himself for an entire season. In the lap after the race, fireworks bloomed in the air, "it was dreamy, this may be the first time I have shed tears in the cockpit".
"It's the happiest tears, and it's all the pressure I've had since the official announcement last November." Before departing for Melbourne, Zhou Guanyu was interviewed remotely by Zhuang Shengchun, a reporter for CCTV News's "Theory of Relativity."
Video loading...
△【Full video】Relativity | Zhou Guanyu: The first "Chinese speed" on the F1 track
In the early morning of March 21, Beijing time, "I can't believe it."
Chinese car fans who stayed up late to watch the live broadcast did not expect that Zhou Guanyu completed the "year-round KPI" in the first stop. "I haven't been so excited in a long time!" Some car fans jumped up from the couch, and family members who did not watch racing cars also shared the joy.
△ [Video] When Chinese car fans see Zhou Guanyu's debut, they get points...
For car fans, Zhou Guanyu is to racing, just like Liu Xiang is to athletics and Yao Ming is to basketball. In the interview, CCTV News "Theory of Relativity" also talked to him about Yao Ming's "rookie" season of AMERICAN basketball twenty years ago.
At the end of that season, Yao Ming was asked how he felt when he knew he could go to MLB. Guess how he answered? The reporter asked.
"Think your dream has come true, right? Finally, it's time to wait for this day. Zhou Guanyu said.
Yao Ming's answer was unexpected. "You can't touch anything around, but you feel that there is invisible air constantly pouring towards you", even wanting to turn back.
△ [Video] When China's first official F1 driver heard Yao Ming's words...
Zhou Guanyu also did not expect that after the official announcement of becoming China's first official F1 driver, he would face such doubts - "not the market behind it"...
"When a person has worked hard for a long time, he can finally embark on the path of his dreams. But some people say some completely untrue information to belittle you and denigrate you. But after the first stop and the second stop, I was very happy to see a lot of 'passers-by turning powder' who did not support me before. Zhou Guanyu said that the F1 driver was a fantasy he had always had when he was a child, and he would not look back no matter what.
The first time Zhou Guanyu saw F1 up close was in his hometown. In 2004, when the Shanghai International Circuit hosted its first F1 Grand Prix, five-year-old Zhou Guanyu held a small flag and took a photo.
F1 officials once used this photo to fill in the blanks: If Zhou Guanyu can be ______ in F1, you are ____.
outcome......
△ [Video] Large (da) wish (lian) scene
In 2004, F1 used a V8 engine, and the audience had to wear headphones or earplugs to resist the sound; in front of Xiao Guanyu's eyes, the car flashed by, and only a tiny helmet could be seen, and according to the color of the body, the flashing vehicle was probably judging who was driving. "I thought, 'That's what I want to do when I grow up, and I hope that one day I can race on the track like them.'
Today, Zhou Guanyu's own helmet is printed with the skyline of the Bund in Shanghai, as well as the pattern of blue and white porcelain, and the words "Guanyu" are written in the middle, which can well identify "I am a Chinese driver".
△ Zhou Guanyu's helmet
Just like the idol Kobe Bryant rolled his father's socks into a ball when he was a child, fantasizing about playing the killer ball; Zhou Guanyu's childhood memories, there are similar pictures - fiddling with children's car toy simulation competitions, himself as the "organizer" and "commentator", let the classmates pretend to be racing drivers, "tell them what happened in this bend, are they out of the race?" Any further? Take a step back? Write it all down in a notebook."
At the age of seven, Zhou Guanyu sat in a go-kart and began to study and train in Europe in his teens, from F4, F3, F2... All the way to the next level.
In 2020, Zhou Guanyu won the championship for the first time in the F2 arena, looking back at the photos, he found that the red star of the five-star red flag was in the wrong direction. From then on, whenever he was on the podium, he had to look back and look at it first, "This is a very important thing."
△ [Video] Every time, look back at the national flag
"Wouldn't you imagine that there would be a chance to look back at F1 as well?"
"I'll imagine it, but it's far away to think about it at the moment, I'm just a first-year student." Zhou Guanyu's goal is still to finish the race and get points, "when you have a certain experience, naturally, the podium will appear."
Starting in 2020, the F1 Shanghai race is suspended, and Zhou Guanyu will imagine the day of the restart from time to time, "because I have seen Verstappen fight in the Netherlands, Hamilton fight at Silverstone in the United Kingdom, and the whole scene is the color of this driver..."
Looking forward to that day, the scene is full of blue and white porcelain.
Executive Producer 丨 Wang Shanshan Zhang Ou
Producer 丨 Zhuang Shengchun Wang Jie
Reporter 丨Zhuang Shengchun
Technology 丨Xia Wen Zhang Zongyao
Choreographer 丨Jin Zhuyin Wang Hongchun
Video 丨Li Gangqiang Zhang Ying
Vision 丨 Yu Jiang
Co-ordination 丨 Ji Fang
Scan the QR code below to download the CCTV news client to see more news