Zhou Guanyu pays tribute to Anthoine Hubert ahead of Belgian GP

Zhou Guanyu has paid tribute to Anthoine Hubert in his race preview comments ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix this weekend.

Zhou is in his rookie year in Formula 1 and will have used this summer break just gone to reflect on what has been a season of some impressive drives and a fair amount of bad luck.

Certainly, he’ll be looking forward to trying to add to his points tally in the final nine races of the year and that starts at Spa-Francorchamps this weekend.

You cannot come to Spa without thinking about some of the drivers who have tragically lost their lives at this circuit, though, with Hubert sadly passing away after a crash back in 2019 during a Formula 2 race.

Indeed, that sent a dark shadow across the rest of the race weekend, with his close friend Charles Leclerc naturally unable to celebrate sealing his first-ever F1 victory at the track in the manner he would have wanted, and each year we return to the circuit Hubert is rightly remembered.

Zhou, then, took the opportunity to mention the Frenchman in his pre-weekend notes, as he reflected on his break away from F1:

“It’s been nice to relax and unwind for a couple of weeks over the summer break: there was a lot to take in during the first part of my debut season and I enjoyed the chance to process it while recharging my batteries. Now, though, I am ready to get back into the cockpit. I have raced in Spa quite a few times in the past, and also got on the podium here in F2.

“As always, I can’t come to Belgium without thinking of Anthoine Hubert: I’ll be racing for him as well this weekend. Looking ahead, I’m entering the second half of my rookie season with confidence, looking forward to the challenges ahead: we haven’t added any points to our tally in the last