As soon as Zhou Guanyu appeared, the audience cheered.
On April 20, the qualifying session of the 2024 F1 Chinese Grand Prix ended, Red Bull driver Verstappen took pole position, teammate Pérez ranked second, and the closely watched Chinese driver Zhou Guanyu ranked 16th in Q1 in the first quarter of the race and missed Q2.
"It was a real disappointment not to get into Q2 and of course qualifying wasn't easy, my first effective attempt was hampered at Turn 1 and then my tyre locked up at Turn 14 which affected my results......"
Zhou Guanyu pointed out the crux of the game in the review, but the calm young man was not intimidated by the setbacks in front of him, and Zhou Guanyu believes that the gap in qualifying has allowed him to see the positive side to a certain extent.
Zhou Guanyu and the team were confident about the final day of the race.
"I lost about 0.25 seconds at Turn 14 and I was out by 0.06 seconds, in a competitive field like this you need a perfect lap and today we were just a little bit short and we had the potential to go into Q3 and in some areas we showed a lot of competitiveness, especially on the medium tyres, which gave a positive signal for the race. ”
From the sprint race to the qualifying race, Zhou Guanyu's performance has been up and down, but Zhou Guanyu is very clear about his positioning, neither discouraged nor big.
"We used our full potential in the sprint race and we didn't get points for a ninth-place finish, but those 19 laps have given us confidence and we have to understand that there are some special circumstances to get into the top eight. Obviously, in Zhou Guanyu's view, with his personal strength and racing factors, he may still be on the edge of the points zone when he plays to the extreme, but he will be ready for everything and wait for an opportunity of his own.
Many fans made a special trip to Zhou Guanyu.
"For me, it's a brand new track, but it's my first time racing in front of my hometown, and the enthusiasm of the crowd is unbelievable, it's something I've never experienced before, I'm going to do my best, there will be many possibilities for the race, I'm looking forward to it, I want to bring joy to my hometown through the race." ”
Bravi, the team's representative, was the first to express his expectations for the race, "This weekend has proved that our car is fast and we can compete with our direct rivals for points, although we are a little disappointed that Zhou Guanyu missed Q2 by a slight tyre lock in Turn 14, but we remain optimistic that this young man will make progress in the race. ”