Alfa Romeo F1 has yet to decide whether Chinese rookie Zhou Guanyu will remain Valtteri Bottas’ teammate in 2023.
Recently, Alfa Romeo F1 technical director Yann Mongchaux said the 23-year-old Zhou Guanyu was a “surprise of the season”.
“Rereading the comments of journalists last winter, they were very skeptical,” commented Yann Monchaux.
“And he’s a great driver.”
But with Oscar Piastri, who wants to leave the Alpine F1 team, seen as key to the 2023 F1 transfer window ‘Silly season’, Alfa Romeo F1 appears to have vacated that seat for now.
Alfa Romeo F1 team principal Frédéric Vasseur, for example, says Guanyu Zhou’s presence in F1 is not doing well from a commercial point of view.
According to Auto Motor und Sport, there are currently only two Chinese companies listed on the Alfa Romeo F1 Livery.
“It’s not enough for a Chinese company to have compatriots in F1,” said Vasseur.
“They only work together if the performance is right.”
Meanwhile, Frédéric Vasseur has revealed that he opposes plans by the Mercedes F1 team and the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile) to make drastic changes to the ‘anti-porpassing’ rules for 2023.
“One change often entails many other changes, but what we really need is the opposite: stability of the rules to keep costs down,” said Frédéric Vasseur.
“Formula 1 teams are famous not only for creating problems, but also for solving them.”
Category: F1 / Alfa Romeo F1 / Zhou Guanyu