F2: China’s Zhou Guanyu makes history with Sochi sprint win
- ‘So proud to let everyone hear the Flag of China Chinese national anthem for the first time in F2,’ driver tweets after victory
- Sochi sprint cut short after huge accident with 21-year-old declared the winner
China’s Zhou Guanyu won his first Formula Two race after an accident-shortened Sochi on Sunday becoming the first Chinese driver to win in the category.
Zhou was declared the winner of the Sochi sprint race for a first career victory in his second season as an F2 driver. He becomes the 11th winner this year.
The UNI-Virtuosi driver was 0.8 seconds ahead of Nikita Mazepin, who finished second, while championship leader Mick Schumacher, who started in eighth, finished third. Results were taken from lap five and only half the championship points were awarded.
Sunday’s race was cut short after a crash between Jack Aitken and Luca Ghiotto on lap eight of 30 as they battled for fourth place. Aitken clipped Ghiotto’s Hitech and both cars went into the tech-pro barriers. Both drivers escaped unharmed.
Zhou, who is a Formula One test driver for Renault and had been linked with their vacant Formula One seat for the 2021 season until they signed Fernando Alonso, celebrated his victory on Twitter after the race.
