Red Bull eyes Guanyu Zhou’s Chinese sponsor money

A second Formula 1 team has entered the frame to secure the services of Guanyu Zhou in 2025.

The Chinese, who like Valtteri Bottas will contest his last grand prix for Audi-Sauber in Abu Dhabi, revealed in Qatar that Ferrari is "very interested" in signing him up for a reserve driver role for next season.

However, he also suggested other teams are interested. According to Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport, the most prominent among them is Red Bull.

The magazine claims Red Bull is particularly interested in the Chinese commercial backing, which has been estimated in the tens of millions per year, that Zhou can bring.

Zhou’s money would then help to fund a new ’TPC’ test program for Red Bull - with TPC standing for ’Testing of Previous Cars’. The regulations allow F1 teams to test on track, but only if the cars are at least two years old.

Auto Motor und Sport says Red Bull wants to prepare a 2023-spec Red Bull, explaining that the team has refrained from organising a TPC program until now "because Honda charges a considerable amount of money for the use of its engines".

"But the competition has shown that this preparation for junior drivers has become indispensable," writes correspondent Michael Schmidt.

"In order to finance the tests, Red Bull is in talks with Guanyu Zhou, who dreams of jumping back on the Formula 1 train in 2026. The Chinese driver wants to keep fit with TPC tests," he added.

Red Bull would also use the new TPC program to run its junior Arvid Lindblad, a 17-year-old who is stepping up from Formula 3 to Formula 2 next year.