Here is the situation: Nikola Tsolov is staring down the barrel of a Formula 2 title, yet there is no Formula 1 seat waiting for him at the Racing Bulls team for 2026. As Motorsport.com Deutschland reports, the 19-year-old Red Bull youngster missed out on Liam Lawson's F1 seat, and staying in Formula 2 for another year looks unlikely since championship leader Rafael Camara might skip the remaining two weekends due to Formula 1 commitments.
That leaves Tsolov as the heavy title favorite, and champions cannot defend their crown anyway. So, could Red Bull park the talented Bulgarian in the DTM for a year? It sounds wild at first, given that GT3 machines share practically nothing with single-seaters or Formula 1, but it has happened before. In 2021, Liam Lawson and Alex Albon ran a DTM campaign in a Ferrari managed by the Red Bull-funded AF Corse team, and the New Zealander nearly took the title.
Both drivers were 19 at the time, just like Tsolov, and the detour clearly didn't hurt them. Albon was rebuilding after losing his Red Bull F1 seat to Max Verstappen, using the DTM alongside his reserve duties to stay sharp. "Sitting in the simulator all day isn't the real deal," Albon reflected later on keeping his race fitness. Lawson also grew from the experience, becoming the youngest DTM race winner in history and noting that he felt less like a junior and more like a professional.
A DTM stint would bring clear logistical perks. The eight race weekends are compact and stationed in Central Europe, sparing Tsolov from hauling himself around the globe like he would in Japan's Super Formula. That means more factory time with the Formula 1 squad, and with only three calendar clashes between the DTM and F1's 24 rounds in 2027, he could still attend Grands Prix regularly.
Even so, the Japanese Super Formula makes far more sense purely on machinery, as those cars are the closest beasts to Formula 1 outside of the grand prix grid itself. Switching to GT3 machinery requires a total reset, and a slump would be disastrous for a driver on the brink of F1. Furthermore, the political landscape inside Red Bull has shifted since the 2021 Ferrari experiment, with former junior boss Helmut Marko and DTM head Gerhard Berger no longer pulling the exact same levers, though Abt does run with the energy drink brand's branding.
