High Life

HIGH LIFE 111 Jumping into a go-kart for the first time at the age of eight in 2007, he soon found himself competing in the China Karting Championships against boys two or three years older than him. “The first year I did the Chinese championship, all the guys were older than me but I finished third the first year and the second year I won it,” he recalls. “The next year I took one step forward in the category andwon eight races out of eightwhich is still a record in the China Karting Championship. “After this I decided to try and chase my dream which is to reach Formula 1.” It was this Formula 1 dream that eventually led Zhou to Europewhere in 2013 he became the first Asian driver to win the Super 1 National Rotax Max Junior UK Karting Championships and Rotax Max Euro Challenge Junior European Karting Championships, both renowned breeding grounds for future Formula 1 greats. Those results caught the eye of Ferrari and he was quickly snapped up as a Ferrari Academy Driver, giving him the opportunity to learn the trade alongside the very best in the business. It also provided a launching pad to Formula 3 – the next step down from the elite world of Formula 1 – where he is coming off a successful second season in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship with five podium finishes in 2017.