I want you to know this, Zhou.
This in response to Zhou’s letter for The Players Tribune that you can read here
© Alfa Romeo
There are many moments in life when we all feel the pressure.
What you felt in November 2021 in Bahrain could represent many different moments in a person's life, but I can assure you that when something like that happens, we all have something in common: a dream and the feeling that we're losing it.
For you, that dream was, is, and always will be Formula One. Because the dream doesn't just go away when you get to where you think you've got to be, there's always something more to wish for. Dreams come true, and then they evolve in such a way that they never end, so that you can keep that unstoppable feeling that can't hold you back.
But there are also times when the dream can turn into a nightmare. Like that stall. That bloody stall in Turn 1, not just Turn 1 of the race or the year - but of your F1 career. It was then that you felt the weight of the scrutiny of a sport that can be so sweet, but also so cruel, with room for only the top 20 drivers in the world, with little or no margin for error. A sport that was the dream of a lifetime and now seemed not to love you back.
And I say "seemed" because, again, it was the dream that turned into the nightmare that you felt, that made you think about how hard you had worked and how much you had loved F1 from the start, a sport that forced you to change your life and that of your family to get to that first corner, with a bespoke seat that now just didn't seem to fit, but that even when voices made it seem like it wasn't yours, it was.
Everyone feels the weight of their delusions and heartbreaking moments more strongly, more brightly, in slow motion, as if everything is amplified. As if time does not pass. But as you said, your journey is your journey. A journey that meant going to every Chinese GP, moving to the UK, dreaming of your idol. A journey that took six-year-old Zhou to that very FP1 session a few years later in Austria, where Fernando worked his magic, a two-time world champion with both feet on the ground, giving you the advice and reliability you now think of when you need strength, confidence.
The magic that made you want to push harder and harder until you got the call from Alfa Romeo. A dream come true. Because what you owned to little Zhou was what made that night in Bahrain so cold, but that same desire and passion led you to cross the line in 10th place that same night, scoring your first point. And here you are, proving to everyone that this place is yours, that the road has been thought of, but it has always been worth it.
Because you always knew that's all you wanted to do.
China is waiting for you, Zhou, just as Zhou waited every year to come to the Gran Prix, but next time you'll be on the other side. Driving for your country. The first ever Chinese driver.
Ever.
So when you run around the track waving to your people, remember to wave to little Zhou in the grandstands and don't forget to tell him:
