Alpine junior Nikola Tsolov explains the causes of his initial struggles in F3 and what led him to pick up his first victory in an exclusive interview with Feeder Series.

By Juan Arroyo

Tsolov struggled to take his record-breaking Spanish F4 form into F3 last season, scoring points on just two occasions despite expecting to challenge for victories from the offset.

Coming off of an F4 title run in which he secured 13 wins in 21 races, the Bulgarian finished his rookie F3 campaign 22nd in the standings.

That lacklustre form followed into the start of the current season. Despite securing fourth place in the Bahrain sprint race, Tsolov went the next five races without scoring a single point. Moreover, he found himself at the heart of two controversies within three rounds: one in Melbourne, for crashing into Alex Dunne in a free practice session, and another in Imola, for receiving a one-round suspension for his participation in another championship without the FIA and F3’s approval.

In what was supposed to be a fresh start for Tsolov, who was now racing with a year of experience under his belt, all was seemingly going wrong. Yet at the very next round in Monaco, the ART Grand Prix driver found himself on the top step of the podium after the sprint race. He has since picked up two more victories, including a feature race win at his last appearance in Hungary.

What changed, Tsolov says, was his mental approach.

“Just before Monaco, I was feeling pretty down,” he told Feeder Series. “Especially after Australia, I would say I was close to being depressed. I was trying to find my way to rest and take a break from those thoughts because at one point, you come to a realisation that it might be your last season.

“You never know what’s going to happen in the next year, especially when you’re fighting for budget. I went into Imola and it was bad again when it was supposed to start getting better, and at that moment, I was just like, ‘I think that’s it. It’s the last season. From this moment, I don’t really care what happens. I’ll just try to do my best and enjoy every moment.’

“That’s what I started doing, and I think that was part of the key to why I started improving. I put a bit less pressure on myself to get the result, and then the result came. That was the moment I knew I can start putting pressure again differently as ‘look, I’ve already done it once. I know how to do it. I need to repeat that every time.’”

I was just like, ‘I think that’s it. It’s the last season. From this moment, I don’t really care what happens. I’ll just try to do my best and enjoy every moment.’

Nikola Tsolov on his mindset after the Imola F3 round in May

The pressure on Tsolov may have peaked prior to Monaco this season, but it had been building since he stepped into F3 aged 16, just 10 months into his single-seater career.

The Bulgarian and his management team, overseen by two-time F1 champion Fernando Alonso, opted to skip the Formula Regional step as they considered his F4 season a signal that he was ready to step up to F3. But the significant jump in machinery and his lack of experience with Pirelli tyres left Tsolov to fight an uphill battle from his debut.

“We didn’t have the budget as well to prepare massively. I barely did any testing apart from the official ones. It just made it really difficult [to enter] with no experience, no external championships [in the] UAE before the season or anything,” Tsolov recalled.

“I was stuck in that hole [last season] where things weren’t going well and you don’t have much time during the weekend to actually drive and improve because we only do two, three laps per session apart from the races.

“[I’ve felt] a lot more comfortable [with the car] this season. It helps a lot to know all the circuits. I didn’t do any testing over the winter, but I think the other drivers managed to test a little bit, so I think that’s why I started the year a bit with a little bit of a disadvantage. But now that the rounds have been more stacked up and no one has the opportunity to test, I’ve been catching up to them,” Tsolov added.

With testing of F3 or GP3 cars banned in season and limited track time outside the races, Tsolov turned to Eurocup-3 – a direct competitor to the popular Formula Regional Europe – halfway through 2023 to gain some much-needed experience.

The Bulgarian driver made appearances in two rounds last season with Spanish outfit GRS, who had prepared a car for him for a one-off in FR Middle East in the winter. That relationship developed into a 2024 Eurocup-3 seat for all rounds except those clashing with F3’s.

In an unfortunate twist, his participation in the opening round of the Eurocup-3 season at Spa-Francorchamps without explicit approval by the FIA and F3’s promoters was what led to his suspension from the F3 round at the same circuit in July.

Nevertheless, and in spite of several fundamental differences between both championships’ cars, Tsolov believes his part-time campaign has helped him make effective use of the gaps between F3 rounds.

“It was the idea to drive a bit more in between when there are breaks. Obviously, it didn’t turn out completely as planned, with the disqualification for Spa,” Tsolov said.

“Formula 3 is obviously the main goal, but I think it’s good for me to drive as much as I can and learn as many circuits as possible. It was good to join Eurocup-3 as well, where the goal there is more trying to help the team and develop the car rather than having the car and fighting already from the beginning.”

“The main difference is the tyres. In Eurocup-3 we use Hankook, and in Formula 3 we use Pirelli. It makes a big difference with the peak of the tyres, the endurance, basically everything. It’s quite a big jump and difference, but it’s still good to drive something.”

Tsolov has essentially been playing catch-up for a little over a year, having missed what many consider a necessary step before entering F3.

The results of drivers who have made the same jump from F4 to F3 without a full racing season in between vary. Hugh Barter, the second-place finisher in both Spanish and French F4 in 2022, went directly to F3 in 2023 and was handily outscored by his teammates at Campos Racing. By contrast, 2024 rookie Arvid Lindblad has already tied the win record in F3 since his transition from F4 and is in contention for this year’s drivers’ championship with one round to go.

The key difference, Tsolov says, is in how well prepared each driver was coming in.

“[Most drivers] go from F4 to FRECA for one or two years, so they come into F3 a bit more experienced. Just because I did very well in F4 Spain, I think we thought that I could definitely challenge from the first year in Formula 3.

“The thing is I was really young and inexperienced, and Italian F4 is quite different to Spanish F4. In Italy, at least they drive Pirelli, so they have a bit more preparation in that sense. But it definitely helps most drivers to go through the middle categories,” he said, referring to the Formula Regional tier.

“If you look at Arvid Lindblad this year, he jumped from F4 to F3, but people don’t see that he was well prepared, and I think that helped him a lot. He did F4 UAE, he did [three rounds of] Formula Regional Middle East, he did a lot of test preparations to come in strong, and that’s what happened. It’s obviously quite impressive what he’s doing, but all the work he’s done before, that helps him get to where he is now.”

In hindsight, would he have taken part in a Formula Regional–tier series before going up to F3?

“It depends. Looking at it now, what I would have ideally done is what Arvid has done. The thing is, that was our plan anyway, but we just didn’t have the funding to do that. A season in the midway step would have been good, but it is what it is in the end,” Tsolov said.

After two years and three wins in F3, stepping up to F2 would be considered a reasonable move for Tsolov. However, the young Bulgarian, wary of playing catch-up again, is in no rush to advance.

“My most probable option is another year of Formula 3 as I’m still quite young – I’m only 17. Being 18 next year, I have the chance to gain even more experience so we don’t do the same mistake as we did jumping into F3,” he said.

“Get experience, fight for the championship and then go into F2 in ’26 – I think that would be the best option for me.”

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency