Breaking | Alfa Romeo become last team to confirm F1 2022 driver line up

Breaking News

16 November 2021 at 09:16
Last update 16 November 2021 at 09:21
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  • Matt Gretton
  • Editor-in-Chief

Guanyu Zhou has been confirmed as an Alfa Romeo driver for the 2022 season. He will replace Antonio Giovinazzi and join Valtteri Bottas in the team. The Chinese youngster is a multiple race winner in the FIA F2 Championship and will make his F1 debut as he lines up on the grid for next season’s opener in Bahrain.

Guanyu Zhou

Alfa Romeo are the last team to confirm their driver line up for the 2022 season, and on Tuesday morning they announced the departure of Giovinazzi. Soon after, the news of Zhou has broken. 

22-year-old Zhou will be the first-ever Formula 1 driver from China on the grid. He finished second in Italian F4 in 2015, before racking up race victories in Euro F3 and F2, Formula One’s feeder series. 2021, in particular, has been a breakthrough year for the driver, who is currently in second place in the standings in F2 and is ready to mount a challenge for the title in the final two events of the season in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi.

The news means the 2022 F1 grid is completed. Zhou will be the only rookie on the Formula 1 grid with most teams opting to keep their current line-up. The biggest change comes at Mercedes, where George Russell joins Lewis Hamilton. Bottas was dropped from the top team and therefore joins Zhou at Alfa Romeo.