By Rae Wee
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu, China’s first and only Formula One driver, said he will “give it all” for the remaining races of the season as his future in the sport hangs by a thread.
“Right now, the plan is try to fight for the seat in Sauber, in this team. It’s very straightforward,” Zhou told Reuters at the Singapore Grand Prix on Friday.
“I’m trying to… give it all I have for the remaining races that can hopefully show the people, show (team boss) Mattia (Binotto) what I can do, and… making a performance he wants to see.”
Sauber, which will become an Audi factory outfit in 2026, announced in April that German driver Nico Hulkenberg – currently at Haas – will race for the Swiss-based team next season.
That leaves one seat up for grabs at the team, though Valtteri Bottas is touted as being the frontrunner for now.
“I would say there’s a 50% (chance) of me staying, but you never know,” said Zhou. “This is… the brutal thing about this sport. You never know what will happen or what exactly you will be faced with.”
A plan B is also not a priority for Zhou at the moment, even as options seem open to him in other championships. Formula E’s Jeff Dodds, for instance, has been vocal about wanting Zhou in the all-electric series.
“All I can say is that already, a lot of good, very strong teams from other series have been contacting me. Not going to mention who, but a few in different categories,” he said.
“But at this point, of course, right now I’m fighting for my seat here in Sauber, so I’m not yet, let’s say, committed to the other programmes, even though they are very good.”
Sauber have had a tough season this year and sit bottom of the constructors’ standings as the only team yet to score a point.
The first half of the team’s season was plagued with pit-stop issues which cost them points, with their best performance so far coming from Zhou in Bahrain, where he finished 11th.
“At this point, I think scoring points is not going to be easy, but eventually for the coming races, when we head into U.S., I think once we have the upgrade, if it’s working in a very efficient way, then we should have a better chance than now,” said Zhou.
“Mexico, Qatar, the team has been quite strong the last few years in general, so I’m hoping (that) these tracks will be the tracks that we can maybe have a bit of a better chance of doing something quite good.”
(Reporting by Rae Wee; Editing by Toby Davis)
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