F1’s departees might be out of time – but not talent after Qatar GP

As much as Formula 1 is a showcase of the world’s best drivers indulging in gladiatorial combat at 200mph, it occasionally has its days when its light shines on the lesser-heralded members in the 20-strong contingent of racers.

Qatar offered one of those days, in which three men preparing to walk out of F1’s exit doors had (largely) something tangible to show for their current career twilights. 

For Zhou Guanyu and Kevin Magnussen, the Losail race ended with a welcome points pay-out, particularly for Zhou as he helped Sauber finally get off the mark in a so-far scoreless year. For Valtteri Bottas, he was just a couple of laps short of joining them in the top 10 – but a late pass from a penalty-encumbered Lando Norris cruelly denied him that chance to clinch a point. 

The trio may have a chance of gracing the grid in 2026, particularly if the incoming Cadillac team fancies taking a driver with a mental Rolodex stuffed full of experience to lean on in its freshman year. But, for now, they’re drivers out of time – but, crucially, certainly not out of talent. 

Zhou biding his time for points pays off 

It’s been a horrible season for Sauber. Perhaps when the Hinwil team threw off its Alfa Romeo cloak, it had envisaged resuming its reputation as a midfield dynamo capable of the odd surprise despite its compact budget versus the other teams. Instead, it seemed to channel the 2014-2017 horror years, albeit this time without sitting on the brink of financial ruin. 

Sauber’s sole year of scorelessness in 2014 came through a perfect storm of financial troubles and an overweight car, and it nearly repeated that undesirable feat in 2016 had Felipe Nasr not snatched two points in a sodden Brazil encounter. 

The early signs in 2024 did not necessarily hint that Sauber would go until the 23rd round without chalking up a single point; Zhou’s 11th place in Bahrain might have been upgraded had the team not developed pitstop equipment that had the propensity to cross-thread wheelnuts at inopportune times. 

Zhou, who is in talks over a testing role at Ferrari, prevented Sauber from having its first pointless season for 10 years

Photo by: Dom Romney / Motorsport Images

By the time Sauber had fixed its tools, it had regressed versus its midfield rivals; Haas and RB had taken control of the fight for sixth in the championship, while Williams and Alpine were finding performance through hacking weight out of their cars.  

Zhou, meanwhile, was given a new chassis for Imola – but there was something in it that wiped away any ease he had with Sauber’s C44 design; he couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but it cost him a couple of tenths regardless. In the context of Sauber’s position at the time, these were tenths he could scarcely afford to lose.  

This reached its boiling point with a miserable June trip to Canada. An FP1 crash and FP3 spin at Montreal were the consequences of a car that the Chinese driver found intolerably stiff over the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve bumps, and he reverted to his previous tub in an effort to find some confidence. 

"It's the best way to put a message to the paddock and hopefully I get another chance - not next season, but the season after" Zhou Guanyu

There was a qualifying reprieve next time out at Barcelona and Zhou reached Q2 but, after Silverstone a month later, he embarked on a string of nine races in which he only qualified 18th or lower. Bottas outqualified his team-mate in all of them, even breaking into the occasional Q2 to gather every ounce of performance available in a recalcitrant C44. 

But the recent upgrades have changed everything. Zhou suddenly has the confidence to flex his muscles – too late to earn a 2025 call-up, as Gabriel Bortoleto was installed as Sauber’s newest recruit, but nonetheless in time to prove a point. Qualifying 13th in Las Vegas underlined the step that had been made by the team’s new floor – one that Bottas puts at being worth around 0.3s per lap – but this could not translate into a first point of the year. 

It looked like Qatar would go begging too; Zhou’s 12th on the grid became 15th at the start after falling down the order on the opening lap, as a gear selection issue had put his opening gambit out of kilter into Turn 1. Yet, he persisted. The Sauber’s pace on the medium tyre was good, probably about 0.3-0.4s a lap down on the likes of Pierre Gasly and on a par with Fernando Alonso. 

Sauber will have an all-new line-up of Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg in 2025 ahead of the Audi takeover for 2026

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

On the hard tyre, Zhou continued to run close to Alonso’s times – although the Aston Martin driver had the upper hand on pace having wisely used an opportunity to ditch the hards after one lap as the safety car took the field through the pits amid the wing mirror debris clean-up.

Even towards the end of the race, Zhou continued to find time as the fuel burned off – ultimately preserving his place above Magnussen in the pecking order. Net result: eighth, and in an assured fashion – or, in Zhou’s words, a statement drive. 

“I think these two weekends I was able to show myself,” he said, “it’s a relief after a mentally draining season and then happy for the team to score some points and then for myself even. It's the best way to put a message to the paddock and hopefully I get another chance - not next season, but the season after.  

“It’s a statement being made, now I’m waiting for a chance. I’m looking forward to one last race for the team - and then the next chapter.” 

Magnussen’s late-season resurgence yields more vital Haas points 

2024 hasn’t been Magnussen’s easiest season, but it’s certainly ending in a much more felicitous fashion. The early erraticism, which culminated in a prolonged period on the cusp of a race ban before that finally came to pass after Monza, appears to have been dispelled thanks to a tweak to his braking system. 

With the previous braking set-up, Magnussen felt that there was “lag” between his inputs on the pedal and the car’s retardation. This was an undesirable quirk that led to his continued loss in confidence with the VF-24, despite its clear step in quality versus last year’s machinery.  

Magnussen reached 12 penalty points on his superlicence meaning he was banned for the Azerbaijan GP, ahead of his Haas exit at the end of 2024

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

That doesn’t adequately explain the string of incidents that led to his collection of 10 penalty points by the close of the Miami race, but the likely over-driving that Magnussen indulged in to compensate probably does. One can see the difference between pre-ban Magnussen and the post-ban version, which appears to have coincidentally timed with the change in braking capabilities.  

The fixes appeared to arrive ahead of Austin, which led to Magnussen’s sprint-race seventh and the same result in the Mexican Grand Prix. It was a shame that he’d missed out on Brazil round through illness, just as his season had belatedly started to pick up. 

Magnussen felt that he’d have been on for more in Qatar, had Haas not pitted him so soon; the Dane explained that the team was worried about an untimely puncture rather than overall wear, and was adequately keeping Gasly behind before the call to box. That Gasly waited for the safety car and finished fifth was of some disappointment to Magnussen, particularly in the context of Haas’ battle for sixth in the constructors’ championship versus Alpine. 

"I've still got zero points, which is not great. So that's the main feeling now. It's been an extremely tough season" Valtteri Bottas

He was perhaps on the receiving end of his own indiscretions earlier in the season during the race, having been guided into the Turn 1 gravel strip twice by Alex Albon while attempting to pass. At the third attempt, Magnussen made the move stick and told the Williams driver he could “f*** off” over the radio, dismayed by his rival’s robustness in defence. It was effectively a role reversal of their bout in Saudi Arabia, albeit with Albon still coming off worse in the aftermath. 

Magnussen has been at peace with his impending exit from F1, knowing that he has other options outside of the hamster wheel which can allow him to devote more time to his young family. Would he be interested in a 2026 drive if Cadillac came calling? That depends; if he feels happy with his lot next season, it’s hard to see him make a play for that drive. 

If this is truly the climax of Magnussen’s time in F1, then the championship is going to miss his combative, no-bulls**t style of racing. There have been plenty of occasions where the Roskilde-born racer has overcommitted to the bit, but he’s been a loyal servant to Haas after a fits-and-starts opening to his F1 career. His Brazil pole in 2022 will remain an indelible highlight, as will his debut podium in Melbourne 2014, but his talent was certainly worthy of more at his peak. 

Bottas misses out on final point in unlucky Qatar round 

That the mullet-sporting Finn was even close to a point in Qatar came as some miracle, as the series of events that defined his race rather conspired against him. Bottas was ahead of team-mate Zhou before Liam Lawson’s Turn 1 assault on the lap five restart, which had the ex-Mercedes driver off the road. For good measure, he’d also picked up a smidgen of floor damage. 

Bottas is in danger of his first pointless season since joining F1 in 2013

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

Bottas then took a stop on lap 25 to move onto the hard tyre and thus missed out on the cheaper pitstops under the safety car – albeit one he’d contributed to by running over Alex Albon’s escaped wing mirror to shower the start-finish straight in debris.  

He’d got up to 12th after the safety car pandemonium had been soothed, and his progression into the top 10 was admittedly helped by penalties served by Norris and Lewis Hamilton, but the brief shimmer of luck soon lost its lustre when Norris began to rifle through the lower half of the field to break back into the top 10. Bottas’ displeasure at missing out on a point when his team-mate scored four, especially since the 35-year-old was a cut above throughout the year, was palpable. That said, he at least remained magnanimous. 

“It's a shame because even after a really bad race, I was 11th! So a half-decent race should have got points,” Bottas enthused, looking firmly on the bright side. “But obviously I'm happy for Zhou and for the team to at least get a couple of points.  

“Everyone deserves at least those couple of points. Nobody wants to be that team who doesn't score, so at least that curse is off. But like I said, I've still got zero points, which is not great. So that's the main feeling now. It's been an extremely tough season, but at the moment I'm just disappointed for my race.” 

It’s hard to say that Bottas could have done more this season. When the car was semi-decent at the start of the year, he – like Zhou – was hurt by the continuing swathe of pitstop issues. When the C44 was clearly the slowest machine on the grid, Bottas took it to the second stage of qualifying on multiple occasions, beating drivers with much more desirable pieces of kit. 

Now, Bottas has got one more opportunity to ensure that what could be his final F1 season is not a completely fruitless endeavour. A Mercedes reserve role beckons, and perhaps a return to the team in which he enjoyed so much success will offer that clarity of thought in a less demanding role. 

If anyone was casting a net out for an experienced driver in 2026, Bottas should be the first on the shopping list. Experience of a championship-winning team in its absolute pomp has to count for something, and great speed over the last couple of seasons has been masked by some dire machinery. And let’s not forget this: on his day, Bottas was absolutely a match for Hamilton – a seven-time world champion. History should look upon him favourably, albeit with the caveat of wondering how his career would look if those on-days were a little more frequent...

Bottas is set to return to Mercedes, where he won 10 grands prix and five constructors' titles from 2017 to 2021

Photo by: Andrew Hone / Motorsport Images