{"id":30867,"date":"2025-02-24T09:54:57","date_gmt":"2025-02-24T14:54:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=30867"},"modified":"2025-02-24T09:54:57","modified_gmt":"2025-02-24T14:54:57","slug":"zhou-guanyu-optimistic-of-returning-to-f1-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/02\/24\/zhou-guanyu-optimistic-of-returning-to-f1-in-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Zhou Guanyu optimistic of returning to F1 in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zhou Guanyu<\/a> was recently announced as a Ferrari<\/a> reserve driver, returning to the Italian outfit almost a decade after being part of their academy.<\/p>\n

The Chinese driver, alongside Antonio Giovinazzi, will be on stand-by in the event either Lewis Hamilton or Charles Leclerc cannot compete during a race weekend.<\/p>\n

Ahead of a season where Ferrari are likely to fight for the Championship, Zhou will play an important role in their development. The 25-year-old is tasked with helping fine-tune the SF-25 – an especially important role in the context of the FIA’s flexi-wing directive.<\/p>\n

However, he is still targeting a return to F1 in 2026.<\/p>\n

Why Zhou is not giving up on Formula 1<\/h2>\n

Last year’s driver market was unprecedented, with Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari move kick-starting a series of changes across the field.<\/p>\n

Amidst this uncertainty, Zhou – much like teammate Valtteri Bottas<\/a> – missed out on a 2025 contract.<\/p>\n

Sauber, who will become Audi F1 when the new regulations arrive, opted for a brand-new driver combination to move them forward. This left Zhou without a full-time seat.<\/p>\n

Thankfully for the 25-year-old, he still received plenty of interest from teams who wanted him as a reserve driver.<\/p>\n

His new role at Ferrari, who were among other big names negotiating with Zhou, allows him to stay active in the paddock and try to capitalise on any options.<\/p>\n

Looking beyond this year, Zhou is hopeful about a 2026 comeback:<\/p>\n

“I\u2019ll just make sure I\u2019ll be ready if an opportunity comes,” <\/em>he said at the end of last season.<\/p>\n

“If you can take that opportunity and do well, you can make a comeback. If you can\u2019t, then you\u2019re out. I will just try to be ready.<\/em><\/p>\n

“I feel like the chances are still very high \u2013 and another team joined [Cadillac\/General Motors], which opens two more spaces.<\/em><\/p>\n

“The moment I announced my departure, a lot of teams in other series came to me wanting them to drive for them.”<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
Zhou Guanyu, KICK Sauber F1 Team C44; 2024 Qatar Grand Prix, Formula One World Championship<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cadillac the obvious option<\/h4>\n

As Zhou mentions, Cadillac’s arrival to the 2026 grid adds another interesting variable to the driver market equation.<\/p>\n

Graeme Lowdon, Cadillac team principal, is also part of Zhou’s management team. Because of this, the American outfit could be a feasible destination<\/a> in twelve months.<\/p>\n

This is not to suggest that seeing Zhou back on F1 isn’t a long shot – it certainly is.<\/p>\n

However, he believes the driver market could be volatile enough<\/a> to provide an opening:<\/p>\n

“But I feel like 2026… could be a potential chance to come back in F1.<\/em><\/p>\n

“I dream to be on this grid, so while there is a chance, I will be here waiting.<\/em><\/p>\n

“But it won\u2019t be long. I won’t wait more than two years. It\u2019s not a deadline, but it\u2019s the timing I put for myself for now.<\/em><\/p>\n

“It\u2019s not a fixed time, but it\u2019s a time I want to make sure if I can do it or not.<\/em><\/p>\n

“If something doesn\u2019t happen, I\u2019ll go somewhere else. I love racing. To be competing for victories is what I dream of. But the priority is to be in Formula 1.”<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Zhou Guanyu was recently announced as a Ferrari reserve driver, returning to the Italian outfit almost a decade after being part of their academy. The Chinese driver, alongside Antonio Giovinazzi, will be on stand-by in the event either Lewis Hamilton or Charles Leclerc cannot compete during a race weekend. Ahead of a season where Ferrari […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":27798,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[2452,345,1688],"class_list":["post-30867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-f1-2025-season","tag-sauber","tag-zhou-guanyu"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4927"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30867"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30867\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30870,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30867\/revisions\/30870"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}