Source:NURPHOTO/Jakub Porzycki
[Saba Sports News] On January 2, the Ferrari team officially announced that Zhou Guanyu would no longer serve as the reserve driver for the Ferrari F1 team, wishing him all the best for the future. Subsequently, Zhou’s studio expressed its heartfelt gratitude to the Ferrari team and fans, stating that a new chapter is about to begin.
Earlier, on December 19, Zhou had commented during an event that he would continue to be in the paddock for the 2026 season, with the goal of regaining a regular driver seat. According to records, Zhou Guanyu is the first official Formula 1 driver in Chinese history, serving as a full-time driver for the Alfa Romeo F1 team in the 2023 and 2024 seasons.
In February 2025, after losing his regular driver position, Zhou joined the Ferrari team as a reserve driver. Notably, after Ferrari announced that Zhou would no longer be the reserve driver, the Cadillac F1 team quickly launched their China account and posted their first update: they shared a picture of a cat’s eyes, with Zhou’s car number 24 printed in the lower left corner, accompanied by the caption: “The eyes do not lie; the future is already anticipated.” Media outlets noted that the lower left corner of the cat’s eye image provided a timestamp of January 5, 2026, which may suggest that the Cadillac F1 team will announce some significant news on that day, speculating that Zhou Guanyu may soon become the reserve driver for the Cadillac F1 team.