Zhou relieved to end points drought

In the round-up: Zhou Guanyu says he is relieved to have finally scored his first points of the season in the penultimate round.

In brief

Zhou relieved to end points drought

Sauber hadn’t scored a point for more than 12 months until Zhou came eighth on Sunday. “It’s been such a difficult season,” he said. “I’m so happy: For myself, a big relief, also for the team.”

“It was just a very intense race. It was clean, we made moves when it matters, very good pace for the whole stint.”

“We got what we deserved for such a long time,” said Zhou, who does not have a drive for 2025. “One more to go for the team. I’m going to enjoy as much as I could and show everyone what I can do before I’m not on the grid again next year and, hopefully I’ll come back.”

McLaren hand Hirakawa F1 practice debut

Toyota WEC racer Ryo Hirakawa will make his debut in an official Formula 1 practice session on Friday when he drives Oscar Piastri’s car in the first practice session. He has tested earlier McLaren cars over the past two seasons.

Pato O’Ward, who drove in practice at the Mexican Grand Prix in October, will drive for McLaren again in the post-season test at Yas Marina.

Senna’s former engineer joins IndyCar team

IndyCar team juncos Hollinger has hired the highly experienced engineer David Brown as technical director. His 40 years in motorsport included more than a decade at Williams’ F1 team, during which time he worked with world championships such as Ayrton Senna, Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Damon Hill.

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