Zhou Guanyu is happy to have avoided the situation Oscar Piastri currently faces at Alpine with his move to Alfa Romeo.
Plenty of talk ahead of Formula 1's return this weekend at Spa is likely to revolve around the fallout from the stunning events that took place in the early days of the summer break.
After Fernando Alonso shocked Alpine by announcing a move to Aston Martin for 2023, the Enstone-based team then announced Piastri as his replacement citing a legal contract.
However, the Australian later rejected he would race for them next year as he has signed a deal to replace Daniel Ricciardo at McLaren, if the eight-time Grand Prix winner agrees to end his contract early.
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For Zhou, there is a sense of relief that he did not face a similar scenario when negotiating his exit from Alpine, where he had been a junior driver since 2019.
“I’ve been completely released,” he confirmed to Racer.
“Everything worked out very nicely because my contract was ending at the end of last year and it was up to both of us if we wanted to continue, but then there was an opportunity with Alfa.
“So the deal was definitely not to continue with Alpine because I didn’t see anywhere I could have a seat for next year or for this year.
“Alfa and Alpine are quite big competitor brands – not just in Formula 1 but in general – so it was not easy to get out of Alpine, but I’m very happy everything worked out well because if I had another year I’d be kind of stuck, the same now with Oscar.
“I feel like there was an opportunity here so I went for it, and I think it was a very good decision.”
Zhou's future at Alfa Romeo beyond 2022 is currently uncertain, however, with speculation Sauber junior Theo Pourchaire is being considered.
“I haven’t talked to any teams yet, I’m happy and settled at Alfa Romeo," he told GPFans.
“I feel like at the minute…in the off-season maybe I was worried about my future, but right now I’m not too worried about my future.
“I’ve gone through the point when I needed to prove myself. I just need to keep it there with better consistency and then try to improve a bit step by step towards the end of the year.
"I feel the summertime, around Spa, is when you should talk about the future," he added.
“So far I’ve settled down and I feel in general…I’m not too worried about whether I have a seat or not next year because I feel like if I can just keep going the way I am and keep getting better race by race, I see no reason why I shouldn’t stay.”
