F1 Fast Track: Red Bull’s Nikola Tsolov supercharges F1 2027 bid

The Formula 2 and Formula 3 championship battles are heating up in 2026. This year, there is also an additional, PlanetF1.com podium, to play for.

In this new PF1 series, we will award three points to the driver who impresses us most over an F2/F3 weekend. Two points shall go to our runner-up, and a single point for P3. By the end of the year, we shall have our winner. In the event of a tie, the driver who scores the most points on-track, will clinch our best and fairest award. Right, let’s get to it!

Nikola Tsolov becoming undeniable for F1 2027 shot

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Nikola Tsolov is being increasingly linked with a Racing Bulls seat for F1 2027.

While PlanetF1.com understands the current speculation to be wide of the mark, Tsolov having been linked with Liam Lawson’s seat, the young Bulgarian cannot be doing any more to land a spot on the F1 grid for next season.

Tsolov made history with his Silverstone clean sweep. Winning the sprint and feature race, that made it three consecutive victories for Tsolov, a Formula 2 first.

Tsolov, speaking with the Formula 2 website, declared that he was “over the moon” with his Silverstone achievement.

The 19-year-old believes that he has “found a really nice compromise in my driving with the F2 cars that works really well to keep the tyres alive but still go fast.”

His driving reached a new high at Silverstone, Tsolov believes.

With our three points in the bag, and a championship lead of 17 points established, Tsolov will take some stopping in his title and Formula 1 quests.

Rafael Villagomez shines again with double Silverstone podium

Taking our two points away from Silverstone is Van Amersfoort Racing’s Rafael Villagomez.

The Mexican scored a double podium in Northamptonshire – P3 in the sprint and P2 in the feature – making it three podiums in his last four races. With that, Villagomez broke into the top 10 in the championship.

This his third F2 season with the Dutch squad, Villagomez feels the rhythm for team and driver returning.

He told the F2 website: “Last year, we got into a very nice rhythm towards the end. This year, for some reason at the start, it was really tricky and we just broke the rhythm and things didn’t happen. And finally, since Barcelona, qualifying was better.

“I think once we’re in the rhythm together with the team, we just know what we need to do. So, it’s exciting. The upcoming tracks are amazing. The tracks we get to do with Formula 2 are amazing.

“Silverstone was one of my favourites, Spa is as well, and Budapest. So I’m really looking forward to the next few races.”

Gabriele Mini remains a threat to Tsolov

While Tsolov was the undoubted star of the F2 show at Silverstone, Mini continued to demonstrate the consistency which took him to the top of the standings, and sustains him as a leading title contender.

After narrowly losing out to Tsolov in a thrilling scrap for the sprint win, Mini reset and secured another eight important points.

Tsolov may have the momentum, but Mini is going to be very hard to beat over the course of the season. The Alpine junior has failed to score just once in F2 2026, a remarkable statistic of consistency.

Mini can add our final Silverstone point to his tally.

Silverstone F2 points awarded

Nikola Tsolov, Campos Racing – 3
Rafael Villagomez, Van Amersfoort Racing – 2
Gabriele Mini, MP Motorsport – 1

F2 2026 season tally

1. Nikola Tsolov, Campos Racing – 14 points
2. Gabiele Mini, MP Motorsport – 10 points
=3. Rafael Camara, Invicta Racing – 3 points
=3. Martinius Stenshorne, Rodin Motorsport – 3 points

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Ugo Ugochukwu makes Formula 3 history at Silverstone

Formula 3 championship leader Ugo Ugochukwu, at Silverstone, took the most dominant F3 sprint victory of all time. 17 seconds was his record winning margin.

He followed that with third in the feature race. Having worked his way up to P6 at the line, various post-race penalties boosted Ugochukwu into the top three, as he stretched his championship lead over Audi junior Freddie Slater to 18 points.

Our three Silverstone points belong to Ugochukwu.

As the F3 title race reaches crunch time, Ugochukwu feels the pack tightening, but is raring to go again in Spa.

“I’m feeling pretty good. I enjoy Spa, it’s a good track,” he told the Formula 3 website.

“I think that the main thing is to be consistently there at the front.

“This weekend, we were just on the edge of that top 12, and it’s not easy in F3 because the field is getting closer every round, so you really need to be on top of your game because those last few tenths can really make a big difference.

“We’ll try to stay on top of things and hopefully hit the ground running a little bit better in practice, and then we can attack the weekend from there. Still four rounds to go, so we still need to focus race by race.

“Once we get closer to the end of the season, we’ll see where we end up.”

Freddie Slater bounces back on home soil

Trident’s Freddie Slater responded magnificently after being disqualified from the Silverstone F3 practice results due to an insufficient fuel sample.

He secured pole for the feature race, made impressive sprint progress to finish P7, and battled Trident teammate Matteo De Palo for the win, Slater coming out the loser in late contact between the pair.

Post-race penalties boosted Slater back up to P2, as he continues to loom over Ugochukwu in the title fight.

Slater gets our two Silverstone points.

Maciej Gladysz opens F3 victory account

Our final Silverstone point goes to ART’s Maciej Gladysz. The Polish driver’s stock continues to rise in F3.

Before we get into Gladysz’s race weekend, an honourable mention is due for Yevan David, who delivered one of the most impressive defensive drives in recent F3 memory, and by scoring P2 in the Silverstone sprint, became the first Sri Lankan to make the F3 podium.

But, Gladysz gets the nod after taking the next step as an F3 feature race winner. Sure, the misfortune of Matteo De Palo, Ernesto Rivera and Théophile Nael cannot be ignored, but it was still an impressive Silverstone race weekend for the 18-year-old Gladysz, who moves up to P6 in the championship.

Silverstone F3 points awarded

Ugo Ugochukwu, Campos Racing – 3
Freddie Slater, Trident – 2
Maciej Gladysz, ART Grand Prix – 1

F3 2026 season tally

1. Ugo Ugochukwu, Campos Racing – 9 points
2. Freddie Slater, Trident – 4 points
=3. Brando Badoer, Rodin Motorsport – 3 points
=3. Noah Stromsted, Trident – 3 points
=3. Theophile Nael, Campos Racing – 3 points

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