Zhou joins Ferrari as reserve driver after losing Sauber seat

Zhou Guanyu will be part of Ferrari as certainly one of its reserve drivers for the 2025 System 1 season, taking the function alongside present incumbent Antonio Giovinazzi.

Zhou lately ended a three-year stint as a race driver in F1 with Sauber (beforehand Alfa Romeo), having change into the primary Chinese language race driver within the F1 historical past. 

He scored his first championship level on his debut in Bahrain in 2022, and made his first house debut final 12 months when F1 returned to China after a five-year hiatus. 

After a troublesome season, the place Zhou scored the one factors for Sauber in 2024 with eighth in Qatar, he and former team-mate Valtteri Bottas had been each left off the grid on the finish of final season. 

The Swiss squad, getting ready to its metamorphosis into Audi for 2026, opted for an all-new line-up and has paired German veteran Nico Hulkenberg with newly topped F2 champion Gabriel Bortoleto.

Zhou joined the Ferrari Driver Academy in 2014 whereas nonetheless racing karts and, as a younger driver underneath the Prancing Horse banner, he completed second within the 2015 Italian F4 championship.

After two years in F3, Zhou left the Ferrari Driver Academy to affix Renault’s youth programme, from the place he accomplished the ultimate step in direction of F1 with quite a lot of FP1 drives alongside his F2 obligations.

After parting methods with Sauber on the finish of final 12 months, Zhou obtained reserve function gives from quite a lot of high groups – with many on the lookout for a dependable driver to fall again on because the F1 calendar has change into extra intense in recent times.

Final season, Oliver Bearman stepped in for Carlos Sainz on the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and completed seventh after the Spaniard suffered from appendicitis in Jeddah. Later, he changed Kevin Magnussen on two events, scoring factors for Haas in Azerbaijan.

In the meantime, the appointment of Bottas as a reserve driver for Mercedes in 2025 demonstrated the significance of the depth of the ‘bench’ for any groups on the grid at the moment.

Along with Zhou, former F1 driver Giovinazzi will stay on the Ferrari bench this 12 months, though he’ll nonetheless symbolize the Scuderia within the World Endurance Championship, which signifies that Zhou will share the duties of his substitute with the Italian.

On condition that GM/Cadillac, which is already confirmed to compete in F1 from 2026, will use Ferrari energy items and gearboxes, having the ability to drive a Ferrari F1 automotive will assist enhance Zhou’s possibilities of securing a return to grand prix racing subsequent season.