Alfa Romeo driver Zhou Guanyu talks with team principal Frederic Vasseur during the F1 Bahrain Grand Prix on March 20, 2022 in Bahrain. Photo: IC

After China's Zhou Guanyu launched his dream Formula One full-time career being the first in the country to win a point, the achievement, not only proved his critics wrong, but also earned this Generation Z driver massive plaudits from both racing fans and industry insiders.

Sunday saw the season-opening Grand Prix in Bahrain after the new regulations had been introduced. The victory belonged to Ferrari's Charles Leclerc who crossed the line 5.5 seconds ahead of his teammate Carlos Sainz, and world ­champion Lewis Hamilton snatched third. 

As Red Bull dramatically retired in the closing stages, Alfa Romeo's Zhou made incredible result by scoring one point in his debut after becoming the first ­Chinese driver to take part in a Grand Prix.

"To be scoring my first-ever Formula One points in my debut is something I would only have dreamed of one year ago or two weeks ago," Zhou said after the competition. "I don't know how that confidence comes but I think it's the eagerness that I want to finish in the points."

Chinese social media was full with congratulations and blessings for the 22-year-old Shanghai native in the middle of night Beijing time. "You did it! Thanks for the late surprise for racing fans in China and we're so proud," said one comment.

Zhou started 15th on the grid on Sunday. He didn't perform well and fell behind at the beginning of the race, but continued to grow in the next few laps to improve his ranking.

Zhou's teammate Valtteri Bottas, who has been racing in F1 since 2013, placed sixth, three places ahead of his Mercedes replacement George Russell at the Grand Prix. 

Zhou Guanyu drives during the Bahrain Grand Prix. Photo: IC

In a previous interview with Global Times, Zhou expressed his feelings in partnership with Bottas. "I'm honored to partner with Bottas in the new season as he is a rather experienced and solid driver who has won multiple titles," Zhou once said. "I hope I can learn from his experience and techniques and hopefully we could help the team achieve some results."

And he made it. "As impressive as a powerful racer, Zhou has proved himself following his teammate, which in fact showed his strength in participating in Formula One," a racing car insider told the Global Times on Monday.

As some questioned the 22-year-old was qualified enough to land a race seat on the grid, Zhou succeeded with his Sunday performance where he said, "I always said that I deserve to be here and today I think I showed everything. It's a day that I [will] never forget."

Commenting Zhou's performance, Luo Le, a Beijing-based sport commentator, told the Global Times that Zhou was definitely worthy of recognition scoring on his debut.

"F1 always attracts high attention worldwide where it has been expectation of many fans that China can have its own F1 racer. There were Chinese drivers who appeared in practice sessions but there were no Chinese drivers in the F1 race before," Luo sai.

"And for the society which Zhou brought not only the good news in making history. As a young man in his early 20s, he has made a good start in cultivating more world-class racing drivers for China in the future."