Zhou returns to Ferrari as reserve driver for 2025 season after Kick Sauber exit

Feb 05, 2025 10:40am UTC

Ferrari have announced the return of Zhou Guanyu as a reserve driver for the 2025 season, adding to the team’s back-up pool alongside incumbent Antonio Giovinazzi.

It ends speculation over the Chinese racer’s immediate future, following Kick Sauber’s decision to overhaul their driver line-up and part ways with both Zhou and team mate Valtteri Bottas.

Zhou spent four years as part of the Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy from 2015 to 2018, rising through the Formula 4 and Formula 3 single-seater ranks with the Maranello-based operation.

He progressed to Formula 2 after leaving the academy and, having won multiple races, secured promotion to Formula 1 with Sauber’s team – then backed by Alfa Romeo – for the 2022 season.

He remained there through the 2024 campaign, when the outfit transitioned to their Kick Sauber guise, reaching 68 Grand Prix starts and topping up his points tally to 16 before dropping off the grid.

Zhou will provide support to Ferrari’s full-time drivers in his new role, with the famous marque this year fielding a revised line-up as seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton joins Charles Leclerc.

The 25-year-old will share duties with Italian ex-F1 driver Giovinazzi, who also previously represented Sauber and has worked with Ferrari since 2017.

Alongside his Ferrari reserve duties, Giovinazzi will continue to race in the World Endurance Championship aboard the #51 Ferrari 499P, which he drove to victory at the 2023 Le Mans 24 Hours.