In the 2025 Formula 1 season, the driver line-up of the teams will have to be re-learned, with little exaggeration. Lewis Hamilton’s transfer to Ferrari and the new arrivals set the driver market in motion.

In the F1 seat reservation, there are also competitors who do not get a seat by the time “the music stops”. Among them are the two drivers of Kick Sauber, Valtteri Bottas and Chou Kuan-yü. In principle, from 2026, the team that will transform into Audi, or practically anything else, has not received a vote of confidence for any of them, and nothing official has yet been revealed about their further fate.


In recent weeks, however, it has already been heard that Bottas will not be without F1 work. The Finnish driver may end up at his former employer, Mercedes, but sources are already reporting differently that he could return to the place of his greatest success as a reserve competitor, or perhaps as a kind of consultant.

The situation of his current teammate Chou Kuan-yü cannot be called hopeless either. According to the Italian newspaper Corriere della Serra, China’s first Formula 1 driver may be employed by Ferrari as a reserve next year. The parties also know each other, as Csou worked in the pilot program of the Maranello team between 2014 and 2018 before moving to Alpine. In addition to all this, Ferrari as a car brand could continue to strengthen in China, an important market.

F1: Ferrari 1 may confirm an unexpected driver next year

Csou Kuan-jü (Kép: Vince Mignott/MB Media/Getty Images)

Csou also excelled in Alpine colors in the Formula 2 championship, but he failed to enter the Formula 1 gate with the Enstone team. Luckily for him, the team that was still starting under the name of Alfa Romeo pounced on him, so he started the 2022 season together with Bottas at the Swiss team.