Ferrari add new Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc replacement option in driver return
Image credit: Scuderia Ferrari
Ferrari has further revamped its driver pool for F1 2025 with the return of Zhou Guanyu to the fold announced.
Formerly a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy, Zhou’s Formula 1 breakthrough came with Ferrari engine customer team Sauber, in what proved to be a three-season stint for F1’s first Chinese driver who was dropped following the F1 2024 campaign.
Zhou Guanyu: The new Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc Ferrari backup
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
However, Zhou has made a swift return to the F1 scene after Ferrari confirmed that he will serve as one of the two reserve drivers for F1 2025, sharing the role with fellow ex-F1 racer Antonio Giovinazzi.
‘Zhou Guanyu is taken on as a reserve driver for Scuderia Ferrari HP alongside Antonio Giovinazzi who continues in this role,’ Ferrari confirmed in a statement.
‘For the Chinese driver, it is something of a homecoming, as he spent four years with the Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy from 2015 to 2018.’
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Despite his exit from Sauber after the F1 2024 campaign – the team opting for an all-new pairing of Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto as the Audi F1 era looms – Zhou remained confident that there was still a place for him in the paddock.
And with that place being at Ferrari, Zhou can now work on the next stage of his plan.
Speaking to the media, including PlanetF1.com, at the F1 2024 season finale in Abu Dhabi, Zhou said: “Yeah, you probably will see my face around this paddock.
“I want to make sure I’m happy in whatever place I am, and then we can work on a comeback on the grid for a drive, because that’s all I want to do. You know, you don’t want to keep sitting around.
“So everything, whatever I do, I’m making sure I’m in a place that I feel promising for the future, and then hopefully a drive for ’26.”
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