Lando Norris sends seven-word message to Zhou Guanyu after he scored Sauber’s first points at Qatar Grand Prix

Zhou Guanyu scored Sauber’s first points of the season at the Qatar Grand Prix last weekend. He finished eighth to match the best result of his F1 career to date.

Sauber were at risk of becoming the first team since Haas in 2021 to go an entire season without scoring. But their late-season upgrade has made the car more competitive.

Zhou’s 13th-place finish in Las Vegas was his best result since Spain, giving the team fresh hope that they could sneak a point before the end of the season. On Saturday, both cars made it into Q2 after a 12-race run with at least one Q1 exit.

The Qatar GP featured five retirements, though Nico Hulkenberg, Lance Stroll, Esteban Ocon and Franco Colapinto had all started behind Zhou anyway. What really aided him was Sergio Perez’s DNF, Lewis Hamilton’s puncture (and subsequent penalty) and Lando Norris’ stop-and-go.

In the end, though, he finished more than 25 points clear of teammate Valtteri Bottas in 11th, which shows that the result was fully deserved. He showed strong pace relative to Fernando Alonso and Kevin Magnussen – the two drivers either side – in the final stint.

Zhou, who’s losing his seat at the end of the season, leapfrogs Liam Lawson for P20 in the standings. Sauber stay last, 13 points point behind Williams, but it’s a significant boost to team morale.

Lando Norris congratulates Zhou Guanyu after he scored Qatar Grand Prix points

Zhou won his first-ever driver of the day award in recognition of his performance. It took him 67 races to do so.

He beat race-winner Max Verstappen, as well as podium-finisher Charles Leclerc. It was no surprise that he celebrated the achievement on Instagram.

“DRIVER OF THE DAY!” he wrote. “P8! Thanks to all the fans who voted for me, what a weekend for us considering the season we had, a huge relief, let’s GOOO!”

McLaren’s Lando Norris was among those to commend the 25-year-old. He made reference to the gift he bought cat-lover in F1 drivers’ very own Secret Santa.

Norris’ commented: “Congrats mate. Cat cushion was good yeah?”

Zhou Guanyu boosts his chances of joining one F1 team in 2026 after Sauber exit

Jolyon Palmer noticed that Sauber’s mechanics were practising pit stops before the race on Sunday. It has been a problem area for the team all season, but they knew they couldn’t afford any mistakes here with a potential points opportunity.

While Zhou sits above Bottas in the standings, he’s clearly been second-best at Sauber this year. Bottas leads him 17-6 in qualifying, and 11-8 in the 19 races both have finished.

But Zhou has scored the team’s only real headline result of the season. And that should improve his stock before he slots into a potential reserve role driver in 2025.

Zhou says he’s a contender for Cadillac, who will join the grid in 2026. As F1’s first Chinese driver, he offers commercial value, though it’s unclear how much that would mean to a manufacturer team.