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Red Bull Racing reserve driver Alex Albon will race in the DTM in 2021, with backing from Red Bull.

Alex Albon will be taking part in the 2021 DTM Championship, with backing from Red Bull. This race programme will go alongside Albon’s role as Red Bull Racing’s reserve driver.

Having been Max Verstappen’s teammate at the team in 2020 after stepping up from Toro Rosso midway through 2019, Albon struggled for form and pace throughout the season. As a result, Red Bull have opted to stand him down for 2021 and bring in Sergio Perez to add to their arsenal as they take on Mercedes in the final year of the current regulations and their last with Honda power.

Albon has been announced as taking part in ‘selected’ races in the German DTM Championship, although it’s yet to be announced which team or car manufacturer he’ll be driving. DTM is the German touring Car Championship known as Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. From 2021, DTM becomes a GT3-based "GT Plus" formula as a part of cost-efficiency program. This essentially sees the series move away from being touring car based, to a more sportscar oriented approach.

With Audi's factory team pulling out, the series is switching to a privateer team format, in a bid to bring in more manufacturers. Confirmed teams so far include Abt Sportsline, who will race with an Audi R8, 2 Seas Motorsport and Jenson Button's Team Rocket RJN racing a McLaren 720S, while GruppeM Racing will use a Mercedes AMG GT3 EVO. A step away from single seaters into DTM is a bit of an unusual step, with Red Bull usually preferring to place their drivers in Japan's Super Formula but, with 2021 also a bit of an unknown due to the coronavirus pandemic, they've opted to keep their drivers in Europe.

With Albon only taking part in selected races, the alternating driver he'll share the seat with has also to be confirmed. However, Red Bull have confirmed that their junior driver Liam Lawson will also be taking part in the series.

“The DTM with a high-class field and GT3 sports cars is an interesting platform and a real challenge, both for successful race drivers like Alex Albon as for our Red Bull junior driver Liam Lawson,” said Dr. Helmut Marko, Red Bull’s motorsport consultant.

Marko, a former Le Mans winner and Formula 1 driver, has a direct connection to the DTM, established in 1984, in which his team RSM Marko participated with Alfa Romeo and Mercedes between 1984 and 1989.

“Formula 1 drivers like Alex Albon, DTM stars like three-time champion René Rast, GT professionals and young talents like Liam Lawson – that is a high-class driver mix the way I would like it for the 2021 DTM season. It is also a perfect fit that ex-Formula 1 World Champion Jenson Button has already submitted an entry for the DTM with his team,” says Gerhard Berger, an ex-Formula 1 and DTM driver himself.

“Alex Albon is a young, ambitious driver and an outstanding gain for the DTM. My big goal is 20 cars with at least five brands, strong drivers and a battle for the title that goes down to the wire, the final race.”

Lawson is 18 years old and hails from New Zealand. He raced in Formula 3 with Hitech in 2020, ending the season in P5. He is set to move up to Formula 2 in 2021, racing with Hitech again. He took part in the post-season testing in Bahrain at the end of 2020.

Other recent F1 drivers to take part in the DTM include Pascal Wehrlein, Robert Kubica, Paul Di Resta, Timo Glock, Pietro Fittipaldi, Esteban Ocon & Vitaly Petrov, while the likes of David Coulthard, Mika Hakkinen & Ralf Schumacher all raced in the series after their time in F1.