Zhou lost motivation at Sauber after Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto were signed by the Swiss company. When the Audi officially joins the Formula One grid the following season, the two, who are on multi-year contracts, will serve as its foundation drivers. Zhou and teammate Valtteri Bottas were sidelined as a result of the decision. After serving as Alpine's backup driver for a year, Zhou made his Formula One debut in 2022.

He contributed to Sauber's lone points of the 2024 season He scored a point on his debut in Bahrain in 2022.  Speaking in late 2024, when his future was still in doubt, Zhou refused to consider an alternate category of racing this year. “I still want to be staying here because I do feel, with a lot of rookies joining the teams, there’s a lot of opportunities that could happen for ’26 onwards”