While Formula 1 has entered the final races of the 2021 season, news about the new season continues to come. While it was announced that George Russell will move to the Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 team, Valtteri Bottas will move to Alfa Romeo instead of Kimi Raikkönnen, and Alex Albon will return to Formula 1 with Williams, another statement came from Alfa Romeo.
The Italian Formula 1 team has decided to part ways with Antonio Giovinazzi, with whom it has been racing for three seasons, for the next Formula 1 season. The team announced that they have signed a contract with Chinese pilot Guanyu Zhou, whom he has kept an eye on for the past few months, thanks to the financial support he has in place of Giovinazzi. Zhou was only contracted for 2022.
“Talent or money?” The discussion was rekindled:
Guanya Zhou, who is fighting for the championship in Formula 2 this year, has been in the Renault and Alpine academy since 2019. The contract with Zhou re-ignited the issue of ‘buying drivers for money’, which had long sparked controversy in Formula 1 because of his financial backing. While many Formula 1 fans expressed that Zhou is a talented driver, some argued that he was promoted to Formula 1 purely because of money. Speaking about Zhou’s deal, Alfa Romeo team principal Frederic Vasseur used the following statements:
“This was an important decision for the company and its future. There are significant changes in the rules for 2022. We considered all the options on the table and Valtteri was perfectly clear to me. As for Valtteri, we had some options and Zhou was our first choice for hundreds of reasons. ”
Guanyu Zhou will be the first Chinese driver to join Formula 1 full-time. The last Chinese driver in Formula 1 was Ma Quinghua, who went on five practice laps in Austria eight years ago.
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