SINGAPORE, Sept 20 (Askume) – Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu, China’s first and only Formula One driver, said he will “go all in” for the remainder of the season as his future in the sport is at stake.
“The plan now is to get a seat at Sauber. It’s very simple,” he told Askume at the Singapore Grand Prix on Friday.
“I’m trying to… give it my all in the remaining races and hopefully show the people, show (team boss) Mattia (Binotto) what I can do and…..give the performance he wants to see.”
Sauber, which will become an Audi factory in 2026,In April it was announced that German driver Nico Hülkenberg, who currently races for Haas, would race for the Swiss team next season.
Although Valtteri Bottas is currently considered the frontrunner, there is still one spot left.
“I would say I have a 50 percent (chance) of stopping, but you never know,” Zhou said. “That’s the cruelty of this sport. You never know what’s going to happen, and you never know what you’re going to face.”
Plan B is also not a priority for Zhou at the moment, although it appears he has other options in other tournaments. Formula E driver Jeff Dodds, for example, has been vocal about his desire for Zhou to compete in the all-electric series .
“All I can say is that several good, very strong teams from other series have approached me. I won’t reveal who, but I will mention a few teams in different categories,” he said.
“Of course, now I am fighting for a seat at Sauber, so I have not yet committed to the other projects, although they are very nice.”
Sauber have endured a difficult season this year, finishing bottom of the Constructors’ Championship as the only team yet to score a point.
The team suffered from pit stop problems in the first half of the season , resulting in a points loss, with its best finish so far being in Bahrain when Zhou finished 11th.
“At this point, I don’t think it’s going to be easy to score, but eventually for the games to come, when we get to the states, I think once we get that upgrade, if it works in a very efficient way, we should be a lot better than we are right now, there’s a good opportunity,” Zhou said.
“Mexico, Qatar, the team in general has been quite strong over the last few years, so I hope these will be the tracks where we can have a better chance to do some really good things.”
