The 22-year-old will replace Anto𝄹nio Giovinazzi at Alfa Romeo next season where he will partner Valtteri Bottas. 

Zhou currently sits second in Formula 2 and is 36 points behind championship leader Oscar P🦩iastri heading into the final two rounꦆds of the 2021 season. 

Having secured the sole-remaining seat at Alfa Romeo, Zhou’s signingဣ completes the 2022 F1 grid. 

Zhou has claimed four victories during his four ⛦seasons in F2 and is on course to secure his best finish in the series.✱ 

He also won this year’s Asian F3 championship and previously spent three years ꦺin European Formula 3, managing a best finish of eighth in the drivers’ standings in 2018. 

The formal announcement of Zhou’s promotion officially ends fellow Alpine junior Piastri’s hopes of graduating to F1 n🎶ext year. 

The 20-year-old 🥃Australian would be unable to return to F2 should he go on to win this year’s title.&n🥃bsp;

Piastri was announced as Alpine’s reserve driver for 2022 on Tuesday mor🐼ning.

Alongside Bottas, Zhou will be hopeful of a more competitive Alfa Romeoꦰ package with the team languishing in ninth-place in the 2021 co💎nstructors' championship.

Speaking of the news, Zhou said: “It is a privilege for me to start my F1 racing career with an iconic team, a team that has introduced so much young talent into F1 in the past,” Zhou said. “Now the dream is reality. I feel well prepared for the imᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚmense challenge of Formula 1, the pinnacle of my sport, alongside a proven, world-class talent in Valtteri Bottas.

“Next year the target will be to learn as much as possible and as quickly as possible. To be the first eve💞r Chinese driver in F1 is a breakthrough for Chinese motorsport history. I know a lot of hopes will be r𒅌esting on me and, as ever, I will take this as motivation to become better and achieve more.”

Team boss Frederic Vasseur added: “It is a pleasurꦦe to welcome Guanyu Zhou to Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN. He is a very talented driver, as his results in F2 have shown, and we are looking forwa♈rd to helping his talent flourish even more in Formula One. We are proud of our line-up for 2022 and we are confident Zhou will form a very successful partnership with Valtteri. We are also looking forward to welcoming all the new Chinese fans who will join the team:

“Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN is a historical brand and one🔜 that embodies the spiri🔯t of Formula One and we will do our utmost to make the experience of our sport a great one in China.”