Former Ferrari F1 star set to make surprise return after Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix

Carlos Sainz and Zhou Guanyu in conversation — Photo: © IMAGO

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Former Ferrari F1 star set to make surprise return after Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix

Zhou Guanyu will return to the track

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Monday 11 May 2026 22:52

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A former Ferrari F1 star is set to get behind the wheel of an F1 car once again, following next month's race at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Zhou Guanyu spent last season as the reserve driver for Ferrari, on hand in case Lewis Hamilton or Charles Leclerc needed to sit out a race.

The former Ferrari junior driver was also helping the team develop their SF-25 car in the simulator throughout the year, but has been replaced in his role for 2026 by Antonio Giovinazzi.

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Zhou instead took up a role alongside his former team-mate Valtteri Bottas at Cadillac, acting as their reserve driver. Zhou and Bottas previously raced at Sauber together, but were axed at the end of 2024 and replaced by Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto.

Now, it's been confirmed that Zhou will be a temporary replacement for Bottas and Sergio Perez following an F1 race in June.

F1 returns to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in June, but the race is no longer called the Spanish Grand Prix, with the new Madrid track taking that moniker instead. The Barcelona race is now called the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, and a Pirelli tyre test is set to take place after the weekend.

Zhou will take to the track for the tyre test, driving Cadillac's 2026 car for the first time having done some extensive work in the simulator on the MAC-26.

Team principal Graeme Lowdon told media at the recent Miami Grand Prix: "I know he'll be excited to get behind the wheel and just sample the new car.

"He's spent a lot of time doing simulator work, and obviously he comes to all the grands prix. I said before, right at the start, obviously I've seen Zhou’s entire Formula 1 career, I would have no qualms whatsoever of putting him in the car if we had a problem with one of the race drivers. Obviously we hope we don't need to do that.

"I think he’ll relish it," Lowdon continued. "It's a good opportunity for us to see how he performs on that test, and I'm sure he'll do very well."

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Lowdon knows Zhou well

As well as taking on his role as new outfit Cadillac's team principal, Lowdon is also the manager of Chinese racer Zhou.

That's a position he has held for some time, and was also previously the CEO of the Marussia F1 outfit up until the end of 2015.

Zhou started his F1 career off as a reserve driver for Alpine in 2021, but was a member of the Ferrari driver academy between 2014-2018.

When a full-time seat at the Alpine team didn't look like a real possibility, Zhou opted to join Alfa Romeo for the 2022 season, and would stay as that team's full-time driver for three full seasons (with the team later becoming Sauber).

Across his time in the sport, Zhou collected 16 world championship points, but never found himself up on the podium.

F1 Ferrari Cadillac Spanish Grand Prix Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya Zhou Guanyu