Unseen overtake by Zhou Guanyu on Franco Colapinto leads to powerful radio message | F1

On November 27, 2024By Pranco

Zhou Guanyu made an impressive overtake on Franco Colapinto in the final laps of the race F1 Grand Prix of Las Vegas.

Unsurprisingly, as it was P13, the battle wasn’t picked up by the TV cameras Max Verstappen clinched his fourth F1 drivers’ championship.

The Sauber driver was excited by the overtaking move and said over the team radio: “See you later Colapinto”.

It is unclear whether Zhou was simply feeling the adrenaline from his amazing pass on the final lap or whether Colapinto’s comments in the media caught the Chinese driver’s attention.

In an interview with his sponsor Quilmes, Colapinto insinuated that Zhou may be the worst driver on the grid.

Colapinto said: “I don’t care who I have next to me (as a teammate), whether it’s Verstappen or Zhou, I want to beat them and be ahead of them.”

Both drivers are without a seat for next year.

Zhou was dropped by Sauber, with Mattia Binotto opting for an entirely new driver line-up for next year.

Colapinto is waiting to see if a seat becomes available at Red Bull or VCARB, with Christian Horner reportedly interested.

Zhou’s strongest weekend of the year

For Zhou, Las Vegas was his best weekend of the year, when he defeated teammate Valtteri Bottas in qualifying.

Zhou battled for points in the race before ultimately finishing 13th.

Reflecting on his race, Zhou said: “Today was a good race for me. It’s been a while since we fought in the middle of the top ten, and today I feel like we finally had a real chance.

“I believe we maximized the result we could have achieved with our pace, especially considering there wasn’t much drama ahead. Still, it’s encouraging to be back where we were this weekend. It is a step forward and gives us confidence: things look more promising as we head to Qatar for the next round.”