Zhou Guanyu returns to F1 with Ferrari as a reserve driver
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Ferrari has appointed Zhou Guanyu and Antonio Giovinazzi as its reserve drivers for 2025. Giovinazzi has also been a reserve driver at the Scuderia in recent years, so his appointment is by no means surprising. Zhou had been part of the Ferrari Driver Academy for several seasons in the past and now returns to Maranello after a three year stint with Sauber.
Ferrari officially announced on Wednesday morning that Zhou and Giovinazzi will be the team's reserve drivers for next season. Zhou was part of the Ferrari Driver Academy from 2015 to 2018 before switching to the Renault Sport Academy in 2019.
Renault, which is now on the grid as Alpine, had no space within the Formula 1 team at the time. In 2022, he left the youth academy to join Sauber, where he became Valtteri Bottas' teammate. After driving for the Swiss team for three seasons, he left at the end of 2024. He now returns to Ferrari as a reserve driver, a role he shares with another former Sauber Formula 1 driver, Giovinazzi.
Giovinazzi has been associated with Ferrari for quite several years. The Italian has been working for the Scuderia since 2017 and has played various roles since then. He has been one of the team's reserve drivers for years, regularly does simulator work and even won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Ferrari in 2023. He was active in Formula 1 with the Alfa Romeo between 2019 and 2021. Since he departed from Formula 1, he has raced in Formula E with Dragon/Penske and in the WEC with the Ferrari AF Corse Hypercar, where he won Le Mans outright in 2023.
This article was written in collaboration with Kim Hoefnagel
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