Zhou honours deceased athlete with choice of starting number

Guanyu Zhou will be the only new face on the Formula 1 grid in 2022. A new face also means a new number to choose from. Zhou has chosen 24 and despite it being an unlucky number in his home country of China, he has a special reason for doing so.

Chinese Unlucky Number

Since 2014, Formula 1 drivers have had to choose their own race number. This number stays with them for the rest of their career and cannot be changed either, except if you are reigning champion and you want to drive with number 1. This is what Max Verstappen has chosen to do, for example, but as Lewis Hamilton has shown for years, it is not an obligation.

Zhou is the only newcomer to Formula 1 in 2022 and has chosen number 24. Normally you would not be surprised by this, but it is still an interesting choice. The number 4 is seen as an unlucky number in China. The Chinese pronunciation is very similar to how they pronounce the word 'death'.

Zhou wants to honour Bryant

So why did Zhou choose to drive with number 24? For the young driver, that reason is very simple. It has everything to do with basketball player Kobe Bryant, who died in a helicopter accident two years ago. Bryant played a large part of his career with 24 and the Alfa Romeo driver wants to honour the basketball player by choosing the same number as his idol.