The lone rookie of 2022

Last year Sauber made a surprise decision by dropping Giovinazzi and going for Zhou Guanyu. Bit controversial decision. They ultimately went with a new driver pairing after Kimi Raikkonen retired and Bottas joined them with a multi-year contract.

Some may say Zhou paid his way for the seat, we cannot deny it though this is also true he has proved his worth in that seat. F1 is certainly the most competitive sport and money cannot ensure one’s spot in grid.

However, Zhou managed to shut every critic’s mouth after scoring points in his debut race in Bahrain. Something which not everyone could achieve in career.

His whole season was ups and downs with learning progression. Zhou was far off from Bottas in season beginning, but he managed to keep his pace in later races and occasionally beat his teammate. We saw some good wheel to wheel racing from him throughout season.

His best finish was 8th in Montreal, scoring 6 points in total whole season. The stats maybe don’t justify his whole season. Alfa Romeo team had stopped working on car upgrades and focused on next year, which put them out of reach from point scorers.

Zhou faced his major crash in Silverstone, which is one of the scariest crashes in modern time. His car flipped several times before going completely upside down. Thanks to halo and safety systems nothing major happened.

We hope to see more from Zhou and more of his talent in next season.