Ocon welcomes Zhou, sees Piastri on the F1 grid before long

Zhou is second to Piastri in the F2 standings but the 20-year-old Australian will be Alpine's reserve next season without racing

China's first Formula One driver Guanyu Zhou will not take long to get up to speed when he debuts with Alfa Romeo next season and Australian Oscar Piastri can hope to step up soon as well, Alpine driver Esteban Ocon said on November 18.

Zhou (22) and Ocon are both at Renault-owned Alpine, with the Chinese as a test driver.

"It's fantastic to see him getting to Formula One, I've worked with him obviously quite a bit this year, shared an FP1 [practice session] with him in Austria as well, so you know that he was developing very fast into the F1 car," Ocon told reporters at the Qatar Grand Prix.