Zhou Guanyu gives voice to his horrifying F1 crash back in the 2022 season, saying, “The mental side didn’t take me down,”

On the opening lap of the British Grand Prix on July 2022, Zhou Guanyu experienced a catastrophic crash when his Alfa Romeo was pinned between George Russell and Pierre Gasly.

Zhou Guanyu’s automobile aggressively slammed against the catch-fencing and barriers before flipping over and skating across the pavement and gravel. After experiencing one of the most horrific collisions in F1, it would be normal for a driver to lose faith, but Zhou Guanyu hasn’t.

Valtteri Bottas heaps praise on team-mate Zhou Guanyu’s debut F1 season #Formula1 #F1 #F1News #Motorsport https://t.co/CkARGloHIG

— Formula 1 Fans (@F1Views) February 14, 2023

Zhou Guanyu gives us an update after his crash at the British Grand Prix 🙏 pic.twitter.com/8aQqcb0Txc

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) July 3, 2022

Unbelievably, Zhou Guanyu, who believed his car would catch fire with him inside, managed to escape the horrifying 160 mph collision unhurt. The 23-year-old thanked the Halo cockpit protection system and expressed his difficulty in believing he made it through the tragedy.

As per Crash.net’s latest interview, Zhou Guanyu said, “It’s pretty much behind me. Obviously, what occurred was not what I had hoped for, but at least I came out of it unscathed. It was nice that I had a racing weekend immediately following it so I wouldn’t have time to reflect on what had happened. The mental aspect didn’t knock me out of it right immediately.”

“Naturally, it takes me at least one racing weekend to properly recover from the damage because everything has to be renewed,” Zhou said that he had restrained himself from seeing replays of the incident, though.

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Zhou Guanyu recovered from the event more powerful

After competing in F2 for three seasons, Zhou joined Valtteri Bottas at Alfa Romeo and became China’s first full-time F1 driver this year. Before making his Formula One debut, Zhou Guanyu was the target of internet criticism and vitriol from those who questioned his skills and called him a paid driver.

Zhou Guanyu, however, provided an early rebuttal to his detractors by making it to Q2 and scoring points on his first try in the Bahrain season opener. In comparison to Bottas’ collection of 46 points, three top-10 finishes and six points might not seem like a lot.

This view of Zhou Guanyu’s crash is INSANE #F1 #BritishGP #Silverstone pic.twitter.com/lV8NExBQX3

— Abraham Cavazos (@cavazus) July 3, 2022

There are a number of mitigating circumstances that should be taken into consideration, such as Zhou’s bad reliability streak that obscured his results at the beginning of the year when Alfa Romeo’s C42 vehicle was at its most competitive.

Zhou Guanyu has left a lasting impression at Alfa Romeo thanks to the way he has assimilated into the Hinwil-based company as well as his rapid growth and advancement, prompting technical director Jan Monchaux to refer to him as the “surprise” of 2022. And in his own eyes, Zhou believes he has disproven his detractors.

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