Guanyu Zhou


Guanyu Zhou, native form as Zhou Guan Yu is a Chinese racing driver, currently competing in the FIA Formula 2 Championship for UNI-Virtuosi Racing. As part of the Renault Sport Academy, he currently serves as the test driver for the Renault Formula One Team. He was a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy from 2015 to 2018, and served as the development driver for Formula E team DS Techeetah in 2018.
Zhou started his single seater career in 2015, competing in the Italian F4 Championship and ADAC Formula 4 with Prema Racing. After finding success in the Italian F4 Championship, he moved up to the European Formula 3 Championship with Motopark in 2016 and Prema Racing in 2017 and 2018.

Career

Karting

Having started karting when he was eight years old in China, Zhou moved to the UK in 2012 for a more competitive racing environment. In 2013, he won both the Super 1 National Rotax Max Junior and Rotax Max Euro Challenge, beating current McLaren driver Lando Norris. For his final year of karting, Zhou finished 2nd in Rotax Max Senior Euro Challenge and participated in selected rounds of WSK Champions Cup and the KF2 European Championship.

Formula 4

Zhou joined Prema Powerteam for the 2015 Italian F4 Championship. After winning a hat trick in round 2 Monza and consistently finishing on the podium, Zhou ended the season as vice-champion and best rookie, beating highly rated Robert Schwartzman and David Beckmann. He also competed in selected rounds of the German ADAC F4 Championship, achieving two podium finishes in Spielberg and Spa.

FIA Formula 3 European Championship

Zhou joined team Motopark for the 2016 FIA European F3 Championship. After a successful season opener rounds in Paul Ricard and Hungaroring by finishing in 2 podium positions, Zhou struggled to find pace during the 2nd half of the season, finishing in 13th for his maiden season.
Zhou stayed for a second F3 season by rejoining Prema, and improved to 8th in standing with 5 podium finishes. Season highlights included leading race 3 in Spa and holding back Lando Norris in the penultimate round.
After a speculation of a possible move to F2, Zhou remained with Prema for a third F3 season. After a maiden career win in Pau, a podium in Hungaroring and three consecutive podium finishes in Zandvoort, Zhou found him standing in 2nd, just a point behind teammate Marcus Armstrong. Despite strong qualifying pace in Spa and Silverstone, Zhou suffered 4 consecutive retirements with a series of teammate collisions and tyre punctures. Zhou won his second F3 race in Hockenheim, finishing the season 8th in standing, with 3 poles, and 2 wins.

FIA Formula 2

In December 2018, Zhou joined UNI-Virtuosi Racing along with Luca Ghiotto for the 2019 FIA Formula 2 Championship.
Zhou achieved a maiden feature race podium in Barcelona after a strong qualifying and leading most of the race before dropping to third due to tyre degradation. He subsequently achieved another 3rd in the Monaco sprint race by overtaking Artem Markelov at the start. At Silverstone, Zhou scored his first Formula 2 pole position, becoming the first Chinese driver to do so. Later, Zhou also scored third place in the sprint race at Paul Ricard. In the feature race at Silverstone, he lost positions to his teammate and race winner Luca Ghiotto and to the second place driver Nicholas Latifi. In Abu Dhabi, he also finished third with fastest lap in Race 1. He finished seventh in the championship and was subsequently awarded the Anthoine Hubert Award for being the highest-finishing rookie.
Zhou remained at UNI-Virtuosi for the 2020 season, partnering Ferrari Driver Academy member Callum Ilott. Zhou took his second Formula 2 pole position at the opening race at the Red Bull Ring. However, his car suffered electronic problems whilst leading the feature race, causing him to drop to 17th.

Formula One

In mid 2014, he joined the Ferrari Driver Academy while still karting. He stayed in the Ferrari Driver Academy until the end of 2018. In 2019, he joined the Renault Sport Academy and served as a development driver for the Renault Formula One Team. In 2020, Zhou was promoted to Test Driver for the Renault Formula One Team.
He also participated in the Virtual Grand Prix Series for Renault, an FIA launched Esports series in place of the F1 Grands Prix postponed or cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. He won the Bahrain Virtual Grand Prix, the first Virtual GP of the replacement series. However, this series does not award any points to the Formula 1 World Championship.

Racing record

Career summary

* Season still in progress.

Complete FIA Formula 3 European Championship results

YearEntrantEngine123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930DCPoints
2016MotoparkVolkswagenLEC
1
14		LEC
2
3		LEC
3
8		HUN
1
8		HUN
2
3		HUN
3
4		PAU
1
11		PAU
2
Ret		PAU
3
Ret		RBR
1
14		RBR
2
11		RBR
3
7		NOR
1
Ret		NOR
2
6		NOR
3
4		ZAN
1
16		ZAN
2
18		ZAN
3
16		SPA
1
17		SPA
2
8		SPA
3
11		NÜR
1
12		NÜR
2
12		NÜR
3
12		IMO
1
6		IMO
2
5		IMO
3
10		HOC
1
11		HOC
2
13		HOC
3
11		13th101
2017Prema PowerteamMercedesSIL
1
7		SIL
2
7		SIL
3
Ret		MNZ
1
5		MNZ
2
6		MNZ
3
10		PAU
1
Ret		PAU
2
Ret		PAU
3
10		HUN
1
7		HUN
2
3		HUN
3
4		NOR
1
3		NOR
2
8		NOR
3
12		SPA
1
12		SPA
2
17		SPA
3
3		ZAN
1
16		ZAN
2
8		ZAN
3
4		NÜR
1
9		NÜR
2
14		NÜR
3
Ret		RBR
1
9		RBR
2
19		RBR
3
14		HOC
1
13		HOC
2
3		HOC
3
3		8th149
2018Prema Theodore RacingMercedesPAU
1
1		PAU
2
12		PAU
3
13		HUN
1
2		HUN
2
4		HUN
3
5		NOR
1
9		NOR
2
12		NOR
3
4		ZAN
1
2		ZAN
2
3		ZAN
3
2		SPA
1
Ret		SPA
2
Ret		SPA
3
13		SIL
1
Ret		SIL
2
6		SIL
3
8		MIS
1
4		MIS
2
11		MIS
3
Ret		NÜR
1
7		NÜR
2
8		NÜR
3
8		RBR
1
12		RBR
2
9		RBR
3
11		HOC
1
1		HOC
2
10		HOC
3
5		8th203

Complete FIA Formula 2 Championship results

YearEntrant123456789101112131415161718192021222324DCPoints
UNI-Virtuosi RacingBHR
FEA
10		BHR
SPR
4		BAK
FEA
Ret		BAK
SPR
10		CAT
FEA
3		CAT
SPR
4		MON
FEA
5		MON
SPR
3		LEC
FEA
4		LEC
SPR
3		RBR
FEA
6		RBR
SPR
8		SIL
FEA
3		SIL
SPR
8		HUN
FEA
9		HUN
SPR
9		SPA
FEA
C		SPA
SPR
C		MNZ
FEA
Ret		MNZ
SPR
4		SOC
FEA
10		SOC
SPR
5		YMC
FEA
3		YMC
SPR
8		7th140
UNI-Virtuosi RacingRBR1
FEA
17		RBR1
SPR
14		RBR2
FEA
3		RBR2
SPR
4		HUN
FEA
10		HUN
SPR
8		SIL1
FEA
2		SIL1
SPR
SIL2
FEA
SIL2
SPR
CAT
FEA
CAT
SPR
SPA
FEA
SPA
SPR
MNZ
FEA
MNZ
SPR
MUG
FEA
MUG
SPR
**

* Season still in progress.