Zhou joins Ferrari as reserve driver after losing Sauber seat

Zhou Guanyu will join Ferrari as one of its reserve drivers for the 2025 Formula 1 season, taking the role alongside current incumbent Antonio Giovinazzi.

Zhou recently ended a three-year stint as a race driver in F1 with Sauber (previously Alfa Romeo), having become the first Chinese race driver in the F1 history. 

He scored his first championship point on his debut in Bahrain in 2022, and made his first home debut last year when F1 returned to China after a five-year hiatus. 

After a difficult season, where Zhou scored the only points for Sauber in 2024 with eighth in Qatar, he and former team-mate Valtteri Bottas were both left off the grid at the end of last season. 

The Swiss squad, on the brink of its metamorphosis into Audi for 2026, opted for an all-new line-up and has paired German veteran Nico Hulkenberg with newly crowned F2 champion Gabriel Bortoleto.

Zhou joined the Ferrari Driver Academy in 2014 while still racing karts and, as a young driver under the Prancing Horse banner, he finished second in the 2015 Italian F4 championship.

After two years in F3, Zhou left the Ferrari Driver Academy to join Renault's youth programme, from where he completed the final step towards F1 with a number of FP1 drives alongside his F2 obligations.

After parting ways with Sauber at the end of last year, Zhou received reserve role offers from a number of top teams - with many looking for a reliable driver to fall back on as the F1 calendar has become more intense in recent years.

Last season, Oliver Bearman stepped in for Carlos Sainz at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and finished seventh after the Spaniard suffered from appendicitis in Jeddah. Later, he replaced Kevin Magnussen on two occasions, scoring points for Haas in Azerbaijan.

Meanwhile, the appointment of Bottas as a reserve driver for Mercedes in 2025 demonstrated the importance of the depth of the ‘bench’ for any teams on the grid today.

Zhou Guanyu, Stake F1 Team KICK Sauber C44

Photo by: Lubomir Asenov / Motorsport Images

In addition to Zhou, former F1 driver Giovinazzi will remain on the Ferrari bench this year, although he will still represent the Scuderia in the World Endurance Championship, which means that Zhou will share the duties of his replacement with the Italian.

Given that GM/Cadillac, which is already confirmed to compete in F1 from 2026, will use Ferrari power units and gearboxes, being able to drive a Ferrari F1 car will help increase Zhou's chances of securing a return to grand prix racing next season.