{"id":819249,"date":"2026-07-22T19:36:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T19:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/819249\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T19:36:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T19:36:12","slug":"red-bull-driver-declared-next-in-line-and-on-the-radar-for-f1-seat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/819249\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Bull driver declared ‘next in line’ and ‘on the radar’ for F1 seat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Red Bull<\/a> junior Nikola Tsolov has been declared \u201cnext in line\u201d for a Formula 1 seat by Racing Bulls team principal, Alan Permane.<\/p>\n

The Bulgarian sits top of the Formula 2 standings by 27 points, making him favourite for the feeder series title as it passes its halfway stage of the season.<\/p>\n

Red Bull junior Tsolov \u2018on the radar\u2019 over Racing Bulls seat<\/p>\n

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Tsolov has catapulted himself clear at the top of the championship with six wins so far this season, including a feature and sprint race double at Silverstone, and has caught the eye with Red Bull\u2019s Formula 1 teams as a result.<\/p>\n

The 19-year-old is currently below the fateful 40-point threshold to earn an FIA Super Licence to race in Formula 1, but finishing in the top five in the standings would ensure he has the points he needs, and other avenues on the junior ladder would be available to the Bulgarian to gain the required points if needed.<\/p>\n

Tsolov joined the Red Bull<\/a> programme in 2025 after several years with Alpine, and he has carried the form that took him to second place in Formula 3 last season through to F2.<\/p>\n

While Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad have both impressed with their performances so far at Racing Bulls, as Red Bull\u2019s junior team, attention is always on the next generation.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s doing incredibly well,\u201d Permane told PlanetF1.com and other accredited media at Spa when asked about Tsolov.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s now leading the championship after his great weekend at Silverstone, so to say he\u2019s on the radar would be a little bit of an understatement.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s next in line, I think it\u2019s fair to say. When that\u2019ll be, I don\u2019t know, honestly, and definitely, and it\u2019s not an untruth to say we\u2019re not thinking about him at the moment.<\/p>\n

More about Red Bull and the route to Formula 1<\/p>\n

FIA Super Licence explained: How drivers can reach the magic 40-point mark to race in Formula 1<\/a><\/p>\n

All the mid-season driver swaps Red Bull has made in its history<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s there. He\u2019s doing his job, we\u2019re doing our job, and we\u2019ll make a call on whether \u2013 if and when \u2013 he comes up to Racing Bulls later this year, I\u2019m sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the team\u2019s current driver line-up, while Lawson has appeared back to form after a shock early demotion from Red Bull last year, Lindblad has also taken well to life in Formula 1 so far.<\/p>\n

The two have been involved in several close on-track battles at recent races, not least coming out of the pit lane almost side-by-side at Spa, Lindblad with an unyielding defence against Lawson at Les Combes on this occasion.<\/p>\n

Pressed on what may happen next season, Permane reiterated the team\u2019s overriding mission.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the goal of both our guys for sure, and the goal of mine and our team is to develop drivers for that team [Red Bull,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think going into specifics is far more a question for Laurent [Mekies], but I think we need to put them both in a position that they\u2019re ready to do that, and if and when Laurent needs another driver, he\u2019s got one or two to choose from.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp<\/a> to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.<\/p>\n

You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel<\/a> for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!<\/p>\n

Read next: McLaren makes MCL40 upgrade announcement ahead of Hungarian GP<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Red Bull junior Nikola Tsolov has been declared \u201cnext in line\u201d for a Formula 1 seat by Racing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":819250,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,1613,44,3015,1882,82,4390],"class_list":["post-819249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-home-page","tag-news","tag-racing-bulls","tag-red-bull","tag-sports","tag-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=819249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819249\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/819250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=819249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=819249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=819249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}