RACE ANALYSIS: Everything Nikola Tsolov did to win in Melbourne

11 March 2026

Nikola Tsolov made a brilliant start to his 2026 campaign with a victory in the Melbourne Feature Race for Campos Racing – but just how did he do it?

The Bulgarian took the lead of the race in the early stages and from then on managed everything thrown his way, showing great pace and maturity to claim his maiden Formula 2 win.

A FRUSTRATING END TO QUALIFYING

It all started on Friday for Tsolov, where the Bulgarian was fourth fastest in the Red Flagged affected Free Practice.

That form continued in Qualifying when after the first set of flying laps, Tsolov was P1 on a 1:29.381. But as Alex Brundle noted on the F1 TV commentary, it was not the best final sector for him – as his 38.494 was slower than his previous best of a 38.486 – meaning he had time in hand.

A couple of Red Flag stoppages meant that the drivers had one flying attempt at the end of Qualifying, and while Tsolov improved, he wound up in P5 – as he encountered traffic on his lap.

But going into both races, the form they had shown on Friday meant the 19-year-old was confident he had the pace to win.

Tsolov won the Melbourne Feature Race with a dominant driver

MANAGING THE START

Being in the wrong place at the wrong time meant Tsolov got caught up in a few incidents during the Sprint, so he finished in P17.

But on Sunday, the Campos rookie’s ability to avoid contact is what got him into the lead.

Tsolov made a strong start from fifth to get up to third, but as he revealed afterwards, he possibly could have gone up to P1 but chose not to go side-by-side with Alexander Dunne at Turn 2.

Biding his time, Tsolov watched on as Dunne and his Rodin Motorsport teammate Martinius Stenshorne fought for the lead before their race-ending contact at the start of Lap 3.

This put Tsolov into the lead and his first job was to manage the resulting Safety Car restart from that incident. He did that expertly and then pulled out a nice lead on Rafael Câmara.

Tsolov's final lap before pitting was crucial to helping take pressure off Campos in the pitstops

For three laps after the Safety Car, Câmara was within DRS range of Tsolov, but on Lap 9 – their final tour on the Supersofts before switching to the softs – the Bulgarian driver was over nine-tenths quicker than his rival.

At the time of pitting, Tsolov was 1.9s ahead of Câmara. This was important as it eased the pressure on his Campos team, as with the Invicta driver following him in, they knew that they had a bit of a lead and did not have to rush to get out ahead, which can often lead to mistakes.

MANAGEMENT UNTIL THE END

Tsolov came out in the net race lead, but with Câmara and Dino Beganovic slowly closing in on him, as he had a 1.1s gap to the Brazilian on Lap 13 of 33.

The Campos driver’s lead did go up to 1.9s on Lap 15, helped by the two behind fighting. But a couple of laps later, Beganovic stopped on track, bringing out the Safety Car.

This meant Nico Varrone, who had been on the alternative strategy could pit for the Supersofts and come back out ahead of Tsolov in the lead.

But once racing resumed on Lap 22, Tsolov made the most crucial move of his weekend, overtaking Varrone with a move to the inside, on the brakes, at Turn 3.

Tsolov managed the final part of the race well to seal victory for Campos

This was huge as it put a car between he and Câmara, allowing him to pull away from both, especially as the Van Amersfoort Racing driver got his tyres up to temperature.

From then on, it was all about managing his tyres and the gap to Câmara, who by the time he had gotten past Varrone on Lap 27 was two seconds behind Tsolov.

That gap grew to about three seconds before the Ferrari-backed driver reduced it to 1.6s in the closing stages. But by then it was too late, as Tsolov had done enough to become the first Bulgarian driver to win in Formula 2.