Zhou reveals plan to return to F1 seat

Zhou Guanyu has said he will not race elsewhere next season, as he tries to prize open doors within the F1 paddock in the hunt for his next full-time seat.

The Chinese driver lost his drive at Stake at the end of last season, after three years alongside the also-departing Valtteri Bottas.

Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto will form the future Audi team’s 2025 line-up, with Zhou now searching for other opportunities in F1.

Although yet to be confirmed, the 25-year-old is well positioned to remain in the championship as a reserve driver.

Where that might be remains unclear. However, there have been reports of discussions with Ferrari, but a move has yet to materialise.

“Next year for me, I’ve decided not to take on another series,” he told media including RacingNews365.

“Just because I feel like with so many doors that could be potentially open, not just during next year, but also the year after, I want to make sure, in case there’s a chance for me to be stepping back into seat for one race or not, but I’ll be fully here to do so, so that’s very important.”

Zhou, who scored Stake’s only points of the 2024 season at the penultimate round in Qatar, argued sitting out a year will not do his career significant damage, particularly if his availability leads to stand-in opportunities.

But he did concede he will need to strike sooner rather than later, otherwise he runs the risk of losing traction. Nevertheless, Zhou believes he was not able to show his full potential last year.

“I also do feel like you want to keep the momentum of racing going on, but if you take this one year off, I think you’ll be okay on that,” he added. “I think more than one year, then you start to have a little bit of losing this momentum.

“So for me, I think I’ll be just making sure, in the next chapter [and] in a very happy place, that I can be fully aware that I have a possibility to return here on the grid, because I think this year didn’t really show my full potential yet.

“I want to have definitely another chance, if there’s an occasion [to do] that. So let’s see.”