What began as a promising F4 campaign with Campos Racing has evolved into a multi‑year climb through the single‑seater ladder for Nikola Tsolov. His continued progress with the Spanish outfit now positions him as one of the standout prospects in Formula 2.
Continuing with Campos
Tsolov’s relationship with Campos Racing began in 2022, when he joined the team for the F4 Spanish Championship.
After a dominant season, the Bulgarian driver secured his championship win in October 2022, after finishing second in the third race at Circuito de Navarra.
In the 2025 off-season, Tsolov competed in one round of the 2025 Eurocup-3 Spanish Winter Championship with Campos, He then returned to the team permanently for his third FIA Formula 3 season, partnering Mari Boya and Tasanpol Inthraphuvasak.
He took his first win of the season in Bahrain, equalling the record for most wins in the series. Furthermore, after winning the feature race in Monaco, the Bulgarian driver became the first to win five races in the Formula 3 championship.
Tsolov finished the 2025 season in second, runner-up to Rafael Camara.
Making an early debut in FIA Formula 2 at the end of 2025, replacing Formula-E bound Pepe Marti at Campos Racing, Tsolov achieved his first podium in the series after finishing in third at the Sprint Race in Abu Dhabi.
In September 2025, Tsolov was announced as a full-time driver for 2026, remaining with the team.
“I’m looking forward to it just because I’ve always said, Campos is a team but also a family to me,” said Tsolov.
“We’re working very well together, although it’s a completely different team in terms of engineers, mechanics […] but I think we’ve still got on well, very quickly.”
This year, the Bulgarian partners fellow rookie Noel Leon.
“It’s very important to have someone like Noel because he’s really fast, he’s really dedicated, so I think he’s pushing me to be better as well,” explained Tsolov.
“That’s quite important for me, especially in preparation for the year, and obviously pushing myself to perform throughout the season.”
Building on experience
With three years of Formula 3 under his belt, this is more experience than most drivers gain by the time they get to Formula 2.
“I think it, obviously, can be quite useful. My whole career has, pretty much, been in single-seater Formula 3, as I only did one year in F4 previously,” explained Tsolov.
“I think I know the Pirelli tyre well, I think I understand how it works, although it’s quite different in Formula 2 once again, but it definitely helps because the structure of the weekend is very similar. In fact, in Formula 3, you get even less driving than in Formula 2, as you pretty much do one push lap in Free Practice and then head straight to Qualifying.”
Furthermore, with the Formula 3 and Formula 2 championships being closely aligned, the Bulgarian driver notes how this further benefits him.
“There’s a few new ones [tracks] for me this year in F2, such as Baku and Jeddah. I managed to do Qatar and Abu Dhabi, which is quite a decent help,” highlighted Tsolov.
“There will still be a lot of things to adapt to, but when I arrive to the paddock, I feel like I’m in the same place as last year in terms of schedule, racing and meetings.”
Pushing forward without Marko
In November 2024, it was announced that Tsolov would be joining the Red Bull Junior Team for 2025, after a short stint in the Alpine Affiliate programme.
It was Helmut Marko, former Red Bull motorsport advisor, who played an instrumental role in giving the Bulgarian driver this opportunity. However, as Tsolov continues his commitments within the Austrian team, it will be without the guidance of Marko, who departed from his role at the end of 2025.
“He called me, I think, the day before it was announced he was about to leave, and I was in Abu Dhabi for the test,” said Tsolov.
“He basically told me everything is staying the same way; you still have to perform, you still have to win races, and that’s the number one thing. He said I did it well last year in Formula 3, and all he’s expecting is for me to do it once again.”
Over the past two years, two Campos Racing drivers have progressed to a full-time Formula 1 seat.
Former Red Bull junior Isack Hadjar made the transition from the team to Racing Bulls for the 2025 season. He now serves as Max Verstappen’s teammate at Red Bull Racing.
Most recently, Arvid Lindblad also has made the transition to Red Bull Racing’s sister team for the 2026 season, highlighting the positive trajectory for those in the junior team.
“Historically, there have been Red Bull Juniors from Campos going into F1. That definitely gives me confidence that if I perform well, I can have the opportunity as well,” explained Tsolov.
“Obviously, I think I’m in the right place and now it’s just up to me and the team to do a good job to perform this year.”
The opening round
The opening round of the 2026 Formula 2 season took place in Melbourne on 6-8 March 2026.
After enduring a difficult weekend up to Sunday, missing out on a possible pole position on Friday and suffering a point-less Sprint Race on Saturday, Tsolov rebounded, achieving his first win in the Formula 2 championship.
“I’m feeling super happy, very satisfied because I believe in Qualifying, I should have been on pole, but the pace was really strong and unfortunately we caught some traffic which prevented us from doing so,” reminisced Tsolov following the Feature Race.
“Then yesterday it was just a really tough race, wrong place, wrong time, the whole time. So to come away from a bad day into a really good day is what I was aiming for. I stayed resilient and this is the biggest win for me, more than just the result.”
Following this, the Bulgarian driver currently leads the championship on 25 points.
Following the cancellation of rounds two and three, the FIA Formula 2 championship is set to continue on 5-7 June, 2026 in Monaco.
Featured Image Credit: Red Bull Content Pool