‘I’ve won championships before’ – Tsolov happy to be leading the Standings despite difficult Miami weekend

Nikola Tsolov is surprised to be leading the championship so early in the season especially after a mixed weekend in Miami.

The Campos Racing driver heads to Round 3 in Montreal at the top of the Standings with 35 points, just ahead of Gabriele Minì and Rafael Câmara who are a point behind.

Tsolov has won two out of the four races this year – winning the Melbourne Feature Race and the Miami Sprint.

But the Bulgarian and his team have not had the smoothest of starts to the year, notably missing the entirety of Free Practice in Miami before going into Qualifying.

Reflecting on the start to the season however, Tsolov said: “It feels great to still come away leading the championship after a really difficult weekend.

“We didn't get any running in practice, both me and Noel. So not only as drivers we didn't know the track, but also the team didn't know how to set up the car for quali.

“So it was just all a bit of a guess and trying to adapt as quickly as possible. I was really happy to still manage a top 10 result, which I would say saved the weekend.

“Then in the Sprint Race, I managed to come away with the win, when I think we still didn't quite optimise the car. and then going into the Feature Race, I was really hoping to score a few more points and to be fair, I was feeling quite confident, knowing we could definitely do a podium.

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“Unfortunately, I got taken out in Turn 1 but it's racing, so that's stuff that will always happen. Everyone will have one or two bad weekends, but I'm still happy to come away with 10 points and still leading the championship from what we call a bad one.”

Looking back at his second victory of the year in Miami, Tsolov was embroiled in a fight to the end with Laurens van Hoepen and Alexander Dunne.

“It was really fun,” said Tsolov. “I knew from the beginning of the race, he was a little bit quicker than me. So it was all about managing the tyre and knowing where I could push and where I could maybe slightly pull away in the DRS zones.

“Obviously, the race was really hot and overheating was a big factor. So then he managed to make a move and I honestly thought I lost it at that point. But to be fair I never gave up.

“I was hungry to get that lead back, I did my best and obviously with the race craft in the end, it was always going to be a mystery. But I saw room for the overtake and to take the lead. I took the opportunity and came away with the win.”

The Campos rookie’s next challenge is another track that Formula 2 will be visiting for the first time in Montreal.

The lack of experience around the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve means Tsolov is expecting there to be a lot of “freestyling”, even with all the work in the simulator that he will do and also with help from the Red Bull Racing team that he will get.

Most importantly, Tsolov is keen to have “clean weekends” moving forward, especially as the championship gets set to head into the busiest part of the calendar.

“It’s still very early, but Round 2 gave us a bit more of a clarity and confidence heading into the rest of the season,” he continued. “On a bad weekend to come away with the points we have is definitely a surprise.

“I think that now the most important thing is to keep scoring points and I'm sure we can extend or at least stay in the fight because so early on, even if you're not leading, it's not the end of the world.

“But every round is important, so we will try to make the most out of it. I prepare for every round like it's the last one. I put in all my heart, all my work and energy into it.

“Going into the European leg of the season, it's very important to be in a good position and to carry that rhythm. I believe there are 12 weeks with 9 of them being a race week. So especially throughout that part, it's very good to catch a rhythm.”

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Looking at the prospect of having to fight for the title, Tsolov also added: “Obviously being champion is a really tough job for you have to put a lot of things together and obviously you need a lot of luck in some situations.

“But I've been in a title fight last year and I've won championships before, so I know how to do it. It’s still a bit early to speak about that right now but it's the best position to be in, leading it.

“I wasn't expecting to be leading because I've kind of seen my season as one of progress and improvement throughout, but I still think it's going to be that way. We've just started really strong, which I'm super happy about.”