Loudon: No favoritism, but Zhou is among the candidates

      Graham Loudon, head of Cadillac F1 and at the same time Guanyu Zhou's manager, confirmed that his Chinese protege is one of the candidates for a place in the team.

      Zhou became a reserve driver for Ferrari this year, but he would like to return to racing, and he really has such chances. Loudon believes that during his three years at Sauber, he has proven himself well, despite all the difficulties he had to face.

      "In the previous couple of years, Zhou did an excellent job, although he had to work in difficult circumstances," RacingNews365 quotes Loudon as saying. "From my point of view, it's also useful that he doesn't have to tell me about his experience and his capabilities, because I already know all this very well.

      The team uses a correct and balanced approach, so there is no question of any favoritism towards him or any other rider with whom we may be in contact. Our task is to handle the case as well as possible, so we will choose the riders based on their merits. There are truly worthy candidates in the pilot market, and Zhou is one of them.

      Now we have the opportunity to really focus on the choice of riders and figure out which version of the line-up will be the best for us. But it is clear that the choice will be based on achievements. Fortunately for us, there are a lot of good riders, and we have plenty to choose from.

      But, unfortunately, we couldn't do this until our application was confirmed, so it's too early to talk about any details, because we are just now starting to conduct some meaningful negotiations. But definitely, we would like to get such riders who can make a real contribution to our program."

      Cadillac will receive General Motors powerplants no earlier than 2028, and in the first two seasons the team's cars will be powered by Ferrari engines and gearboxes, so the experience Zhou will gain by collaborating with Scuderia can be extremely useful.