The Paper's reporter Chen Jun
Zhou Guanyu made the history of Chinese drivers.
Just this past weekend, Chinese driver Zhou Guanyu won the championship in the opening match of the 2021 F2 Grand Prix, which triggered a heated discussion among domestic car fans for a while, and even Han Han wrote on Weibo that "Zhou Guanyu is too cattle... This record is fully worth a hot search, and I hope that next year's F1 race will have the first Chinese driver. ”
Obviously, as the best and closest driver to F1 in China, Zhou Guanyu not only made a good start for the 2021 season, but also took another step towards his ultimate goal, F1.
At the moment, the surging news reporter contacted Zhou Guanyu himself and listened to him talk about this unusual victory.
Zhou Guanyu enjoyed the champagne of victory.
Everything turned out to be in his plan
'This game meant a lot to me, made up for the regrets, and probably the best or most solid one I've played in my career.
Zhou Guanyu's regret refers to the fact that he passed by the champion on the final lap of last Saturday's sprint. In fact, in the opening match of last season, he also won the main pole position, but in the case of leading the whole field, he gave up because of the mechanical failure of the car, and this series of "misses" made Zhou Guanyu strangle his wrist, and also made the current victory more precious.
Of course, this time Zhou Guanyu was not smooth sailing. Although the pole position started, but was quickly surpassed by the opponent and even his teammates, the position once slipped to the fifth place; the safety car during the race did not take advantage of Zhou Guanyu, when he had just completed the pit stop, but the competitors in front of and behind him took advantage of this window period to enter the station, and indirectly got a favorable.
Under the unfavorable situation, why can Zhou Guanyu turn the tables against the wind?
"In fact, such a start is expected." Zhou Guanyu's answer was somewhat surprising, and then he gave a detailed explanation to the surging reporter, and everything turned out to be in his plan.
"I was using a hard tyre when I started, and I thought it would be good to be able to stay first in the drivers who used the hard tyres, and for the competitors who used the soft tyres, my hard tyres didn't have enough grip to hold them down, like my teammate Drugovich when he rushed forward, I simply gave up my position."
"My idea was to put the soft tires that were better in the second half of the race, when my tank was in a half-load state and I could get the best out of the soft tires."
According to Zhou Guanyu, this tire strategy is the result of careful research by him and his team (the rules require both the driver's soft tire and the hard tire to be enabled), and in the case of getting the pole position, he would rather carry the hard tire in the first half of the race, as far as possible without losing too much time, and put the soft tire in the second half and the impact stage to harvest the victory.
It sounds like some of the twists of horse racing, but such a strategy proved to be successful.
Zhou Guanyu had already fallen to 7th place when he left the station, and then he relied on his excellent driving, soft tires and light fuel to start the Jedi counterattack, making wonderful overtaking in almost every lap.
On lap 23, Zhou Guanyu completed a key overtaking, passing the tire-exhausted Piastri and rising to second place; on lap 28, Zhou Guanyu completed the overtaking of Dutch driver Versaor with a clean and neat move on the straights before Turn 4 and rose to the first place; in the last 4 laps, Zhou Guanyu stabilized his advantage and steadily rushed the line.
Zhou Guanyu stood on the highest podium.
The first step is to accomplish small goals
This was the first full-time victory of Zhou Guanyu's career, he had won the championship in Russia last season, but at that time he was in the sprint race, compared with the two, this time undoubtedly a big step forward.
Zhou Guanyu was blunt about this: "At that time, the champion only had 15 points, now it is 25 points. "Throughout the weekend, Zhou Guanyu won a total of 41 points, leading the drivers' standings, and for the 2021 season, I am afraid there is no more perfect start.
While winning the championship strongly, fans are also paying attention to Zhou Guanyu's super driver's license points (a necessary condition for entering F1).
More than a month ago, the asian F3 Championship championship allowed him to earn 18 super driver's license points, and he had accumulated 38 driver's license points before the start of the season, and only 2 more points were needed to apply for a super driver's license.
Zhou Guanyu revealed, "F2's points and super driver's license points are not directly equated, and in the end, it depends on my ranking throughout the season to calculate the corresponding super driver's license points, and I currently hope to work hard to run this season." ”
"Last season's race introduced 18-inch tyres for the first time, and it was not easy for teams to adapt, and this season has been relatively normal so far. In pre-season testing, we were average, but our whole team had reservations, not fully exerting the full performance of the car, hoping to hide some strength into the official race. ”
Zhou Guanyu did not say it directly, but the clear-eyed people can see that as long as they play normally, it is only a matter of time for Zhou Guanyu to apply for the remaining 2 points of the super driver's license. From this point of view, next season Zhou Guanyu will make full preparations for landing in F1, which is Zhou Guanyu's goal all along.
And the closer to the dream, the more calm the young man is now, "You first have to complete a small goal, I will stand one stop to cash in the plan I made before the season, and strive to be in the top three at the end of the season, I will not change the established plan because of this one championship, such as going to the season championship." 」 ”
How many difficulties have been experienced, how much suffering has been suffered
Zhou Guanyu's restraint is closely related to his arduous dream-chasing journey over the years.
At the age of 8, he was exposed to karting, at the age of 10 he won all eight national championships, at the age of 11 he went to the United Kingdom to study and train, at the age of 14 he was selected by the F1 team, joined the Ferrari Drivers' Academy, and competed in F4, F3 and F2 competitions in f4, F3 and F2... Being able to get to this day step by step, Zhou Guanyu has paid too much and too much, and he will never be overwhelmed by a momentary victory.
In the interview, Zhou Guanyu told the surging news reporter frankly: "How many difficulties and hardships have been experienced over the years, perhaps outsiders are not too clear, especially if you are a Chinese driver, if you want to achieve the same results as foreign drivers in the circle (where Europeans dominate), win the same opportunities, you have to pay more efforts." ”
Coincidentally, Han Han also wrote on Weibo: "Friends who know racing will know how difficult it is [to win the F2 main race], [this is] one of the highest moments for Chinese drivers." ”
Han Han Weibo.
F2 is so, F1's test is not to mention, but such a Zhou Guanyu undoubtedly gives us hope.
It is worth mentioning that this weekend when Zhou Guanyu won the championship, F1 also opened the opening game of the new season, Mick Schumacher, Ma Zeping and Kakuda Yuyi three rookies ushered in their F1 debuts, and they were all playing in F2 last year, and the performance of these former opponents in F1 also gave Zhou Guanyu a reference.
In the exchange with the surging news reporter, Zhou Guanyu mentioned Kakuda Yuki, the Japanese driver who finished ninth, "He ran quite well from the beginning of qualifying, and he can be better." I believe that in the first race, these newcomers have not yet fully shown their strength, and as the game goes deeper, they can find the feeling further. ”
Seeing these F2 peers galloping in F1, Zhou Guanyu had a little envy in his words and found more confidence.
Editor-in-Charge: Ascendas