Zhou received many negative messages: 'All this hate for no reason'

Guanyu Zhou has completed his first season in Formula 1. At the beginning of the year, the rookie received many negative reports over how much he justified a place in the sport, but he has been able to prove himself with a strong debut. According to Zhou, his nationality has been a factor in this.

Zhou was not received with too much enthusiasm in F1. The Chinese driver competed in Formula 2 for three seasons before making his F1 debut, but Zhou failed to win the title. At the opening race in Bahrain, however, he managed to silence his critics by finishing in the points.

Zhou himself believes he was unfairly criticised before he got behind the wheel of an F1 car at all. Speaking to The Race the Alfa Romeo driver explained how people in the paddock were always nice, but fans on the internet in particular were sometimes harsh and unfair. "It’s not something I expected, where you reach your dream and then you get all this hate for no reason."

Zhou: 'If you're a Chinese driver, it's even worse'

According to the 23-year-old driver, some of the negativity was partly due to his nationality. "Yeah, it’s true. Let’s say it, to be quite open, it’s definitely true." 

Sergio Perez has also spoken out about the lack of respect because of his Mexican origin. "I read what Checo said. If you’re a Chinese driver it’s even worse, probably twice as worse than what’s affected Mexican drivers!"

Unfortunately for Zhou, he has experienced such situations many times in his career, and despite learning how to deal with them it doesn't make them right or fair. "But it’s still quite unfair or bad to see how people are still judged by all nationalities. It’s definitely not the way we should go forward.”