Stepping down to Formula 1 reserve: Is it ever the right choice?

Zhou’s move, After being dropped by Sauber at the end of last season, keeps him in close proximity to the F1 paddock. It’s also something of a reunion, with the 25-year-old having risen through the ranks of the Scuderia Ferrari Driving Academy from 2015 to 2018, and with China home to an estimated 150 million fans, it’s a win for F1 too.

However, he is sharing the role with experienced Ferrari reserve and fellow ex-F1 driver Antonio Giovinazzi, so he’s not exactly a shoo-in for any opportunity that opens up, and with Lewis Hamilton joining the team alongside prodigy Charles Leclerc, this doesn’t look likely to happen either.

As many of Zhou's predecessors have found, there’s life outside of F1 for world-class drivers who fall just short of motorsport's top step. So, has he made the right choice becoming a backup? Or would he be better served pursuing a career in another category?

F1 history is littered with the names of ‘nearly’ drivers who didn’t quite get the chance to showcase their talent in a leading car. Some never get the opportunity to step up at all — just ask Aston Martin reserve Felipe Drugovich or 2023 Formula 2 champion Théo Pourchaire.

Several former drivers have also found that competing elsewhere has reignited their racing careers. In some cases, these cameos have even turned into opportunities for an F1 return.

While Giovinazzi was part of Ferrari’s winning return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, former Red Bull academy drivers Sebastien Buemi and Jean-Eric Vergne have won titles in Formula E. Heikki Kovalainen, who was Hamilton’s teammate for the season in which he won his first F1 drivers’ championship (2008), has also achieved success in Super Formula & Japanese Rally.

When now-legends Kimi Räikkönen and Nigel Mansell weren’t offered seats to their liking, they went racing in the World Rally Championship and IndyCar instead. Both ended up returning to F1, and though neither added to their respective 2007 and 1992 F1 titles, they proved that racing elsewhere can provide a platform to show you’ve still got what it takes.

On the flip side, joining an uncompetitive team can make you look bad. When Valtteri Bottas left Mercedes to become Zhou’s teammate in 2022, he’d just achieved multiple wins and podiums. After a difficult period for Sauber, they’re now both without drives for 2025.

Becoming a team’s reserve is no guarantee of being first choice for any vacancy, but it certainly doesn’t hurt, and plenty of third drivers have gone on to get the nod.

As a Williams reserve, Robert Kubica showed that he still had the pace to compete at the highest level, earning him a drive for the team in 2019, eight years on from a near-fatal rally accident. However, that did not last long.

Daniel Ricciardo, whose situation is arguably similar to Zhou’s in that he rejoined his academy team, also made an ill-fated comeback with AlphaTauri last season.

Looking to the future, this year’s rookie picks also demonstrate that F1 teams are willing to give reserve drivers a chance in the first team. Oliver Bearman, Jack Doohan, and Liam Lawson have all impressed as stand-in drivers, and now they’ll be competing full-time in 2025.

With this in mind, Zhou’s move seems logical. If things don’t work out, he can always do a Mick Schumacher (who's now racing in WEC) and look elsewhere next season.

And like Bottas (who’s now a reserve at Mercedes behind Kimi Antonelli), the Chinese driver will be on hand to fill in for any debutant who doesn’t quite hit the ground running. So he could yet get a second chance.