Zhou will give it "all I have for the remaining races" to stay in F1

Zhou, China's first and only Formula 1 driver, told Reuters at the Singapore Grand Prix on Friday: "Right now, the plan is to try to fight for the seat in Sauber, in this team. It's very straightforward.

"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... make a performance he wants to see," explained Zhou.

Sauber, which will become an Audi factory outfit in 2026, announced in April that German driver 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.

Zhou said, "I would say there's a 50% chance of me staying, but you never know. 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.

Zhou: I think scoring points is not going to be easy

"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. 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 programs, even though they are very good," added Zhou.

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.

Zhou continued: "At this point, I think scoring points is not going to be easy, but eventually for the coming races, when we head into the 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.

"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," concluded Zhou.