Zhou receives high praise from Vasseur

Alfa Romeo boss Fred Vasseur has praised Zhou Guanyu for his recent performances after the rookie finished in the points at the Canadian Grand Prix.

Now only six points behind their rivals, Vasseur admits that rookie driver Zhou has really stepped up after having a difficult start to his first ever Formula 1 Championship season.

The first ever Chinese driver in the sport secured his first Q3 appearance in Canada, and went on to finish two places higher up in eighth and one place below his more experienced teammate, Valtteri Bottas.

Vasseur is more than pleased for Zhou

“It was a very good weekend, a great race today," Vasseur told the F1 Nation podcast.

"[I'm] more than pleased for the team and more than pleased for Zhou because he did a fantastic race. Scoring good points and I think this will be a step up into improvement for him and the team.

"From the beginning of the season, I think he made immediate step by step improvements. We put the first target to do some Q2 and he did it on the first one. And he was always really strong in the races that a couple of times he was able to score points.

"There was an issue on the reliability side, but overall I'm more than pleased for him because he is always positive, always very team oriented, focused on the job and pushing for the team, and I think it's a great achievement for him.“