Zhou was born in Shanghai. He began karting at the age of eight in China, then relocated to Sheffield in 2012 for a more competitive racing environment, attending Westbourne School.
In 2013, racing for the Sheffield-based Strawberry Racing team, Zhou won both the Super 1 National Rotax Max Junior Championship and the Rotax Max Euro Challenge. He also made his only Karting World Championship appearance, driving for Ricky Flynn Motorsport alongside Lando Norris and Jehan Daruvala.
Zhou joined Prema Powerteam for the 2015 Italian F4 Championship. He won all three races in Round 2 at Monza and finished the season as vice-champion and best rookie. He also competed in selected rounds of the German ADAC F4 Championship, taking two podium finishes at Spielberg and Spa.
Zhou raced in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship from 2016 to 2018. In 2016 with Motopark he finished thirteenth. He rejoined Prema for 2017 and improved to eighth in the standings with five podium finishes, including leading race 3 at Spa and holding back Norris in the penultimate round. In 2018, his third Prema season, he took his first career win in Pau, two wins overall, and three pole positions, but finished eighth after four consecutive retirements due to teammate collisions and tyre punctures.
Zhou raced in the FIA Formula 2 Championship from 2019 to 2021 for UNI-Virtuosi Racing.
In 2019 he took a maiden feature-race podium in Barcelona and achieved his first Formula 2 pole at Silverstone — becoming the first Chinese driver to do so. He finished seventh in the championship and received the Anthoine Hubert Award as the highest-finishing rookie.
In 2020 he won his first Formula 2 race at Sochi after the sprint race ended prematurely. He took six podiums and finished sixth overall.
In 2021 Zhou won four races and nine podiums. He took pole and converted to victory at the Bahrain opener, won the Monaco sprint, and won the feature race in Britain. He lost the championship lead to Oscar Piastri mid-season and finished third in the standings. During the preceding winter, he won the 2021 F3 Asian Championship with Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema, taking four wins, five poles, and eleven podiums.
Zhou joined the Ferrari Driver Academy in 2014, remaining until 2018. He then joined the Renault Sport Academy for 2019. He served as a development driver for the Renault F1 Team in 2019, testing at five circuits including with the R.S.17. He was promoted to Test Driver for 2020, taking part in three sessions with the R.S.18 including the post-season test at Yas Marina alongside Fernando Alonso. He remained part of the rebranded Alpine Academy for 2021 and made his Formula One race-weekend debut by driving the Alpine A521 in first practice at the Austrian Grand Prix — the second driver from Mainland China to take part in a Grand Prix weekend session after Ma Qinghua.
Zhou signed a contract with Alfa Romeo for 2022, partnering Valtteri Bottas and becoming China's first Formula One race driver. He chose the number 24 to honour his sporting hero Kobe Bryant, who wore that number with the Los Angeles Lakers. Zhou scored a point on debut at the Bahrain Grand Prix, recovering from a poor start to finish tenth. Reaching Q3 for the first time at the Canadian Grand Prix, he finished eighth. At the British Grand Prix, a first-lap collision with George Russell sent Zhou's car flipping over the barriers into the catch fence at high speed; he was extracted, taken to the medical centre, and declared fit, later crediting the halo with saving his life. He claimed his first career fastest lap at the Japanese Grand Prix via a late pit stop for new tyres. He ended the season eighteenth in the World Drivers' Championship with six points.
Zhou remained with Alfa Romeo for 2023. During pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit he set the fastest overall lap time of 1:31.610. He scored points at the Australian Grand Prix (ninth, starting seventeenth), the Spanish Grand Prix, and the Qatar Grand Prix, finishing eighteenth in the championship with six points — identical to 2022. His best qualifying performance came at the Hungarian Grand Prix where he qualified fifth, though a first-corner collision and time penalty saw him finish sixteenth. At the Dutch Grand Prix a call to switch to intermediate tyres promoted him as high as second before he later crashed in returning rain.
Zhou and Bottas were retained for 2024 after the team's partnership with Alfa Romeo ended and it rebranded as Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber. He scored the team's only points finish of the season at the Qatar Grand Prix — qualifying twelfth and finishing eighth after two safety cars — and was voted Driver of the Day. He completed his first home race at the Chinese Grand Prix in April, where after the race he was given a special parking spot on the grid. He finished the season with sixteen career championship points in total and two fastest laps. He left Sauber at the end of 2024, with Nico Hülkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto joining for 2025 ahead of the team's takeover by Audi.
Zhou joined Ferrari as a reserve driver for the 2025 season. At the start of 2026 it was announced he would not continue in that role. In January 2026 he joined Cadillac as a reserve driver for the team's maiden Formula One season.
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