Abstract: F1, which celebrates its 20th anniversary in Shanghai, has finally ushered in the first Chinese player to compete at home.
With the cheers of the audience, a green car rushed out of the pit lane, and the 20th anniversary of the F1 Chinese Grand Prix ushered in a historic moment. On April 19, the 2024 Formula One World Championship (F1) Chinese Grand Prix pulled off the engine at the Shanghai International Circuit. With the blessing of the home field, Zhou Guanyu also burst out with luck and combat effectiveness, and successfully ranked 10th in the qualifying round, which is conducive to achieving a good result in the sprint race on the 20th.
Fans act as "overseers"
We don't want the Sauber team to break down again
The appearance of Chinese driver Zhou Guanyu brought a high level of attention to Friday's practice session for the first time. The first practice session of this year's F1 China started at 11:30 a.m. on April 19, and many fans rushed to the track early in the morning. At about 10 o'clock in the morning, several main roads two or three kilometers away from the stadium have begun to jam traffic, and the staff orderly guides the spectator vehicles to the corresponding location to park.
The Shanghai Circuit Station of Metro Line 11 is also crowded, and many fans are holding posters and large photos of Zhou Guanyu, wearing the race clothes of the Sauber team, ready to cheer for Zhou Guanyu. Although Verstappen, Russell, Hamilton, Alonso and other drivers also have considerable appeal, in his first home stadium in the true sense, Zhou Guanyu is the undisputed king of popularity. In the main stand, directly facing the pits, the largest number of fans were dressed in the green clothes of Sauber Racing.
Zhou Guanyu appeared in the paddock. Xinhua News Agency
It is worth mentioning that the performance of the Sauber team is still not very stable, and there have been many old problems in tire changes and other links, Zhou Guanyu has failed to finish the race for two consecutive races, and even the extreme situation of the car suddenly losing kinetic energy. For this reason, many fans have appeared on the relevant occasions of Zhou Guanyu's activities in the past two days wearing reflective vests of "tire change group supervisors".
In the stands, such reflective vests reappeared. Fans in the pit lane of the Sauber team really did the "overseer", frequently posting video clips of the staff nervously changing tires on social media, "I hope they don't play tricks anymore, let our Xiao Zhou hit the points." ”
1/20 of the breakout
It's not just one man's dream
Zhou Guanyu's F1 driver dream began in 2004 when he won the first F1 Chinese Grand Prix. That year, 5-year-old Zhou Guanyu went to the circuit for the first time with his parents to see F1, when he had no concept of racing. Two years later, Zhou Guanyu competed in his first go-kart race, and at the age of 10, he won all eight stages of the National Karting Championship. In order to get close to the best racing environment, he and Zhou Guanyu went to the United Kingdom, one of the birthplaces of motorsports, to train while studying and training. In 2021, he achieved impressive results in F2 and successfully obtained his F1 license at the end of the year.
Zhou Guanyu watching F1 in 2004. Zhou Guanyu's Weibo picture
In any case, after two seasons of Formula 1, Zhou Guanyu's return to the home stadium this time has a different meaning. F1, known as the "world's three major sporting events" along with the Olympics and the World Cup, represents human fearlessness and technology, from the "rookie halo" of scoring points (entering the top ten) in the first race in 2022, to the 2023 line being questioned as decent but also refreshing his personal best qualifying results, and then to the frequent pit stop problems in 2024, Zhou Guanyu has had highlights and also faces doubts.
Returning to his hometown, Zhou Guanyu successfully enjoyed the treatment of a star driver, occupied the C position in the official poster, and participated intensively in a number of commercial activities. Of course, Zhou Guanyu is also actively working hard to build up and adjust his condition, "This year I can finally go back to the place where my dream started, although I haven't raced here before, and I haven't tried the car before, but I have done a lot of homework on the simulator. I hope to bring out my best performance and live up to everyone's expectations. ”
Zhou Guanyu drove a race, which attracted the attention of fans. Labor Daily reporter Gong Junqi photography
On the other hand, there are only 10 teams with a total of 20 drivers participating in the F1 event throughout the year, and Zhou Guanyu can occupy one of them, which is a great achievement in itself, and it is also of great significance to Chinese motorsport, to the vast number of Chinese fans and academy drivers, and to the F1 event.
"I hope that there will be more young Chinese drivers in the future, but whether there will be a second place in the next 5 to 10 years is still unknown, because I do need to give up some things and overcome a lot of difficulties along the way, in fact, I didn't think three or four years ago that I could get to this point, so I look forward to more Chinese players showing their Chinese demeanor in F1." Zhou Guanyu said.
The head picture shows Zhou Guanyu driving a racing car. Labor Daily reporter Gong Junqi photography