Axed F1 driver linked with Ferrari reserve role for 2025

Zhou Guanyu could land a role as Ferrari’s reserve driver for the 2025 F1 season.

That is according to reports in Italian media which suggest Ferrari could offer Zhou an F1 lifeline after he lost his full-time Sauber seat for 2025.

Sauber announced earlier this month that both Zhou and current teammate Valtteri Bottas would be leaving the team at the end of the season, with the soon-to-be Audi squad instead opting to sign Formula 2 championship leader Gabriel Bortoleto to complete their all-new driver line-up alongside Nico Hulkenberg.

While Bottas has been widely tipped to return to Mercedes in a reserve driver capacity, Zhou is now being linked to the same position at Ferrari.

Italian publication Corriere della Sera reports Ferrari are “expecting” Zhou to join the team next season in a supporting role to Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.

Zhou would replace current Ferrari reserve Oliver Bearman, who is joining Haas as a full-time driver next year.

The 25-year-old Chinese driver has ties to Ferrari, having previously been part of the Scuderia’s driver academy between 2014 and 2018, before switching to Alpine’s junior programme.

Zhou previously told Crash.net in an exclusive interview that he would be willing to take on a reserve role if he lost his Sauber seat in the hope it would open the door to securing a full-time return to F1.

“If you don’t have a seat then the only way is to be a reserve driver and wait for opportunities,” he said at Monza. “At the moment I’m not talking to any other team about a reserve role because I think there will be plenty of chances.

"It really depends what they have and what seats other teams have available maybe for the future.”