Meet the first and only F1 driver from China who's already notched deals with Dior and Lululemon

Zhou was born in Shanghai in 1990. He began racing when he was just eight years old, and, like most racing drivers, started out karting.

According to state media The Paper, Zhou's father built a professional karting track for him to practice racing, in Shandong province, around a two-hour flight away from Shanghai. Zhou's father is a business owner, according to a November 2019 interview with Formula 2.

Zhou moved to the UK with his family in 2012 to kickstart his career. He attended Westbourne School in Sheffield, about 170 miles north of London.

At the same time, Zhou started racing with Strawberry Racing and competed in karting until 2014. Relocating overseas wasn't easy for Zhou, as there were so many differences between Shanghai and Sheffield.

"Shanghai is a huge city," Zhou told Formula 2 in the interview, adding that growing up in Sheffield felt "small" compared to his hometown. The population of Sheffield is around 550,000, but Shanghai — China's most populous city — has almost 30 million residents.

Zhou said that moving to the UK "was a big change" because he didn't speak or understand English, per the interview with Formula 2.

"In the schools, there were no other Chinese people there, I was the only one and they couldn't speak my language, so I had to force myself to learn it quickly," he continued.

Zhou Guanyu's agent did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.

Zhou joined Renault Sport Academy to compete in Formula 2, the second-highest category in open-wheel formula racing. That same year, Zhou became a development driver for Renault's F1 team — it has since rebranded to Alpine.

In 2020, Zhou, who was 20 years old at the time, became Renault's test driver. He was only the second Chinese driver to race in a Formula 1 practice session, following Ma Quinghua, who did the same in 2012 and 2013.

"There have not been many Chinese drivers in Formula 1, so to be behind the wheel of an F1 car during a race weekend is going to be a very proud feeling," Zhou said in a June 2021 statement, as quoted by the South China Morning Post.

Zhou, at 22 years old, joined veteran driver Valtteri Bottas as one of Alfa Romeo's drivers in Formula 1. Alfa Romeo hailed him as a "trailblazer who will write a pivotal page of his country's motorsport history," per a November 2021 press release by Sauber.

Zhou said in the press release that becoming an F1 driver was a dream come true for him.

"I know a lot of hopes will be resting on me and, as ever, I will take this as motivation to become better and achieve more," Zhou added, per the press release.

In his first year in Formula 1, Zhou racked up six points from 22 races, finishing in 18th place. One of Zhou's biggest achievements as a rookie was claiming the fastest lap in the 2022 Japanese Grand Prix.

"Overall, everything looks promising. It is tough but I like the track. I like high speed. The track has all that," Zhou said in an October 2022 article by state media China Daily.

Sauber, Alfa Romeo's parent company, did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

At the 2022 British Grand Prix, Zhou was involved in an accident at the start of the race. On board footage from Formula 1 showed the back wheel of Zhou's car hitting Mercedes driver George Russell's front wheel, before flipping upside down and skidding down the track. Zhou then crashed into the barrier, leaving him stuck in the wreckage.

In a July 2022 Twitter post, Zhou credited his car's halo — a safety device mounted in front of a driver — for saving his life.

"Once I stopped I didn't know where I was because I was upside down and the next thing I felt was some leaking," Zhou said in a July 2022 article by The Guardian, adding that he feared a fire would start.

He felt fine the next day, with just some minor bruising, per The Guardian.

While Zhou has garnered significant individual endorsements, this has yet to translate to sponsorships from China for his team, Alfa Romeo.

In 2022, Alfa Romeo only had a handful of Chinese sponsors, including tech company Lenovo, dairy brand AMX, and AI company SenseTime, per Autosport.

Alfa Romeo's team principal Frederic Vasseur previously said in a July 2022 article by Motorsport.com that sponsors from China are still banking on Zhou to prove himself in Formula 1 before they plan to commit to endorsements with the team.

"Perhaps it will take time, I'm convinced, but perhaps Zhou has to score first and to deliver first to attract new sponsors," Vassuer told Motorsport.com.

For Zhou, he's already focused on improving his performance on the track.

"I'm always trying to push myself," Zhou told SkySports in a November 2022 article, adding that if he's "able to do the job, why not have more in the future?"

"I like to have pressure, you can't take time off to be relaxed," he said.