{"id":176,"date":"2026-07-22T18:15:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T21:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/?p=176"},"modified":"2026-07-22T18:42:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T21:42:53","slug":"racing-bulls-confirms-nikola-tsolov-formula-1-promotion-he-is-next-in-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/f1\/racing-bulls-confirms-nikola-tsolov-formula-1-promotion-he-is-next-in-line\/","title":{"rendered":"Racing Bulls confirms Tsolov&#8217;s Formula 1 promotion: &#8220;He is next in line&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Racing Bulls has a good problem on its hands for the 2027 Formula 1 season. With two solid drivers currently in its lineup and no changes planned at Red Bull, the energy drink brand&#8217;s junior team appears to have three drivers vying for two seats next year, as Nikola Tsolov is already viewed by Alan Permane as &#8220;next in line.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking to the press at Spa-Francorchamps, the Racing Bulls team principal addressed the driver choice for 2027. In addition to praising Tsolov\u2014who currently leads the F2 standings with a 27-point buffer over Gabriele Min\u00ec\u2014Permane assured that a step up to Formula 1 is well on track for the Bulgarian driver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, Permane did not guarantee that the promotion will happen as early as 2027. At present, Racing Bulls fields the promising Arvid Lindblad, a rookie in the 2026 season, and Liam Lawson, who has scored 39 points across ten rounds so far. Consequently, the head of the Faenza-based squad deferred any decision regarding next year&#8217;s lineup until the end of the current campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;He is doing amazingly well. He\u2019s leading F2 now after an excellent weekend at Silverstone, so saying he\u2019s on our radar would be an understatement. I think it\u2019s fair to say he is next in line. When that will happen, honestly, I don\u2019t know. And it\u2019s no lie to say that right now, we\u2019re not thinking about it,&#8221; Permane commented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;He\u2019s out there doing his job while we\u2019re doing ours, and I\u2019m sure later this year we will make a decision on if\u2014or when\u2014he will be promoted to Racing Bulls,&#8221; the team boss added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Permane went on to reiterate Racing Bulls&#8217; objective of grooming young drivers for future promotion to Red Bull. In doing so, he placed part of the responsibility on Laurent Mekies, team principal of the Milton Keynes-based main squad in F1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;That is undoubtedly the goal for both drivers, and my goal\u2014as well as the team&#8217;s\u2014is to develop drivers for Red Bull. Going into details is much more a question for Laurent, but I believe we need to put both of them in a position where they are ready for it. And if and when Laurent needs another driver, he will have one or two options available to choose from,&#8221; Permane concluded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Formula 1 returns July 24\u201326 in Budapest, host of the Hungarian GP, the 11th round of the 2026 season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">F1 Hungarian GP: when to watch in US ET, London, New Delhi (India), Shanghai (China) and Sydney (Australia)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">US Eastern Time (ET)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Free Practice 1:<\/strong>\u00a007:30 AM<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Free Practice 2:<\/strong>\u00a011:00 PM<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Free Practice 3:<\/strong>\u00a006:30 AM<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Qualifying:<\/strong>\u00a010:00 AM<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Race:<\/strong>\u00a009:00 AM<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">London Time (BST)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Free Practice 1:<\/strong>\u00a012:30 PM<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Free Practice 2:<\/strong>\u00a004:00 PM<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Free Practice 3:<\/strong>\u00a011:30 AM<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Qualifying:<\/strong>\u00a003:00 PM<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Race:<\/strong>\u00a002:00 PM<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">New Delhi Time (IST)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Free Practice 1:<\/strong>\u00a005:00 PM<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Free Practice 2:<\/strong>\u00a008:30 PM<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Free Practice 3:<\/strong>\u00a004:00 PM<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Qualifying:<\/strong>\u00a007:30 PM<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Race:<\/strong>\u00a006:30 PM<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Shanghai Time (CST)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Free Practice 1:<\/strong>\u00a007:30 PM<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Free Practice 2:<\/strong>\u00a011:00 PM<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Free Practice 3:<\/strong>\u00a006:30 PM<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Qualifying:<\/strong>\u00a010:00 PM<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Race:<\/strong>\u00a009:00 PM<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Sydney Time (AEST)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Free Practice 1:<\/strong>\u00a009:30 PM<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Free Practice 2:<\/strong>\u00a001:00 AM\u00a0<em>(overnight)<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Free Practice 3:<\/strong>\u00a008:30 PM<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Qualifying:<\/strong>\u00a012:00 AM\u00a0<em>(midnight)<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Race:<\/strong>\u00a011:00 PM<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Current F2 championship leader Nikola Tsolov is firmly in Racing Bulls&#8217; sights for Formula 1. However, team principal Alan Permane says the timing of the promotion remains to be decided.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1020308153,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"42wp_featured_image_caption":"Nikola Tsolov is on Racing Bulls' radar for F1","42wp_featured_image_credits":"F2","42wp_featured_video":"","42wp_featured_image_hidden":false,"42wp_authors_list":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[94,95],"42wp_author":[48],"class_list":["post-176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-f1","tag-nikola-tsolov","tag-racing-bulls","42wp_author-giovani-danjo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":184,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176\/revisions\/184"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1020308153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176"},{"taxonomy":"42wp_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/42wp_author?post=176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}