After driving a camouflaged Alfa Romeo in Barcelona, Guanyu Zhou is “fully pumped up” to get the Alfa Romeo C42 going in its newly-revealed livery.
The Chinese rookie did not have the easiest first days on track as a fully-fledged F1 driver in Barcelona, for he and team-mate Valtteri Bottas completed the second fewest number of laps among the 10 teams ahead of only Haas.
Zhou hopes the official test in Bahrain from March 10-12 will be more productive with the Alfa Romeo in its traditional red and white color scheme, which was unveiled on Sunday.
Guanyu Zhou, as you’ve never seen him before. 
@GuanyuZhou24 pic.twitter.com/WWgFhHkteA
— Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN (@alfaromeoorlen) February 27, 2022
“I am fully pumped up for the season and seeing the C42 in the livery in which I will race it definitely makes it real,” said Zhou, whose Friday morning running at the Circuit de Catalunya was disrupted by five red-flag stoppages, two of which he caused.
“We are at the beginning of a new era with new cars and new regulations, and this creates an opportunity for all teams to make progress since we are all starting from scratch.
“Everyone at Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN has been incredibly helpful since I joined and seeing all the hard work, the commitment and motivation from everyone, in Hinwil and at the track, fills me with pride and excitement.
“I can’t wait to be on the grid with this car and work with my team to bring home the results we are targeting together.”
Zhou was restricted to only two half days of running in Barcelona instead of three as the team chose to give the first morning session to their experienced test driver Robert Kubica.
However, the issues the team experienced meant the Pole was limited to only nine laps.
“The start of a new season is always a time when expectations, hopes and plans come together. This year, the stakes are even higher than we are taking a bit of a jump into the unknown with the new regulations,” said Kubica.
“There has been an incredible amount of work that went into this car, the C42, and I am looking forward to seeing what the team can achieve with it.
“In my role, I am aiming to provide as much help as possible in the development of this car. We know how big the margins of improvement are at this stage in the lifetime of a car and we know each upgrade can make a difference, so the work we do back at base will be crucial to deliver results trackside.”
