ART Grand Prix driver Nikola Tsolov made history in Saturday’s Formula 3 sprint race in Monaco, becoming the first Bulgarian driver to win a race in any series on an F1 weekend. Feeder Series spoke to Tsolov after his victory to find out just how special the moment was for him.

By Tori Turner

After a difficult start to his second season in F3, Tsolov, an Alpine junior and protégé of Fernando Alonso, finally won his maiden race at one of the most iconic circuits on the calendar.

Tsolov had a near-perfect race despite multiple incidents that occurred further down the field. His ability to control the restarts after both a red flag and a mid-race safety car only aided him in securing his first victory.

“It’s a great feeling for me,” he said. “It’s been a tough season for me so far.”

Starting from pole position, Tsolov had a perfect launch when the lights turned green, preventing MP Motorsport driver Tim Tramnitz, who passed Laurens van Hoepen off the line, from catching him on the opening lap. The race was then brought under safety car and red-flagged at the end of lap two after a multi-car incident between Turns 3 and 4 that caused five cars to retire.

After race control revealed on lap 17 that Tsolov had been noted for weaving, ART ordered the 17-year-old to push with the aim of increasing the gap over Tramnitz to five seconds in case he was to receive a penalty. He was 3.4 seconds ahead by lap 20 when race control confirmed there was no further investigation on the matter, effectively sealing Tsolov’s win over Tramnitz and ART teammate Van Hoepen.

His victory came 559 days after his last win in the 2022 Spanish F4 season, which Tsolov dominated by taking 13 wins and 18 total podiums from 21 races. The win was only his second points finish of the 2024 F3 season after he previously finished fourth in the sprint race in Bahrain.

“It’s a good time to step it up and get in that loop of good results and hopefully end up in a better position by the end of the season,” he added.

Making Bulgarian history

Bulgaria has never had an F1 driver, and Tsolov is the country’s only driver currently in junior single-seaters. His victory marked the first time a Bulgarian driver finished on the podium – never mind won – in F3 and predecessor series GP3. He also became the only Bulgarian driver to have won a race and taken a podium in any of the support series to Formula 1.

Upon making his F3 debut last year, he had already become the first Bulgarian driver in thirteen years to race in an F1 support series, the previous one being 2010 GP2 competitor Vladimir Arabadzhiev.

When “Mila Rodino,” the Bulgarian national anthem, played whilst Tsolov stood on the top step of the podium, the emotion of his historic win finally hit him.

“It’s just a great feeling when I was hearing the national anthem. I think all the Bulgarians around here had tears in our eyes because it’s history being made, and hopefully there’s many more to come,” he told Feeder Series.

“I’ve always been really supportive of Bulgaria and they’ve been really supportive of me. I’m just really proud to be Bulgarian and represent my country.”

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency