Ferrari Eyes Zhou as Key Test Driver for 2025 Season
Nov.28 - Ferrari is "very interested" in signing up Guanyu Zhou as a test driver, the Chinese driver claims.
While fellow Audi-Sauber refugee Valtteri Bottas looks set to rejoin Mercedes, 25-year-old Zhou has been linked with a similar reserve role for 2025 at Ferrari.
Before making his F1 debut for Ferrari-powered Sauber - then Alfa Romeo - in 2022, Zhou was a long-time member of the Maranello-based marque's driver 'academy'.
"Negotiations with several teams are underway and Ferrari is very interested in me," he said. "We are currently examining what options are open to us. That should be decided soon.
"We'll see," Zhou added. "There will be a lot happening in the coming weeks and we will have to make a decision. I have a clear idea of what I want, but nothing is signed at the moment."
As well as potentially taking key Chinese sponsorship backing to Ferrari, Zhou would also solve a new reserve driver shortage for the team, as Robert Shwartzman is heading to Indycar in 2025.
Additionally, Oliver Bearman is stepping up to a race seat at Ferrari-powered Haas, although there are suggestions the Briton would be the first pick in the event Charles Leclerc or Lewis Hamilton need to be replaced next season.
Antonio Giovinazzi, meanwhile, was on reserve duties for Ferrari in Las Vegas.
As for Zhou, he claims his Sauber was not up to specification with Bottas' sister car recently at a crucial phase in his future-planning.
"It was a good weekend for me in Las Vegas," he said, "I finally had a competitive car again.
"But of course this season has been disappointing overall. At a time when I should have shown what I can do, I didn't have the new parts on the car."
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Ferrari is definitely an option for him, especially as Shwartzman's departure opens up space on the reserve roster.
Bearman couldn't realistically be a full-time driver & simultaneously reserve driver elsewhere, although I recall reading a similar claim about Mick when he was at Haas, but still.
Whoever is in attendance for any given GP will normally substitute for a full-time driver, which is the whole purpose of having at least one in attendance in the first place, not to mention Haas wouldn't necessarily have any viable substitution option, which would make things unnecessarily complicated.
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