Nikola Tsolov took a record-breaking fifth career Formula 3 win in Monaco after dominating an eventful feature race, crossing the line ahead of Roman Bilinski and Campos teammate Mari Boya. Feeder Series spoke to Sunday’s podium finishers afterwards about the race.

By Daniele Spadi

Unlike sprint race polesitter Alessandro Giusti, Tsolov retained the lead of the race at the start and cruised to Sainte Dévote in first. Bilinski defended second place from the attacks of Boya, who then came under attack from Voisin into Mirabeau Haute but kept third despite a sizeable lock-up.

Within the top 10, Tim Tramnitz was the only driver to make a pass, overtaking Noel Léon for fifth around the outside of Sainte Dévote. Further behind, Ugo Ugochukwu also enjoyed a good start, gaining two places and climbing up to 12th, while an opening-lap collision at the Nouvelle Chicane between Bruno del Pino and Nicola Marinangeli forced the MP Motorsport driver to pit with damage.

Bilinski tried to put pressure on Tsolov in the opening stages of the race, as they broke away from the rest of the field. 

The gap between them narrowed to just seven tenths of a second on lap 11, but the Bulgarian seemed to have everything under control. He began to push from there, extending the gap to 4.2s by lap 15 of 27.

The race was then neutralised at the end of lap 18 as Noel Léon hit the outside wall at Mirabeau Bas while running sixth and came to a stop at Portier. Charlie Wurz was unable to avoid the slow Prema right in front of him and hit his rear. The Austrian sustained significant damage to his front wing as well as a slow puncture as reported by his steering wheel dashboard.

With the safety car out, Tsolov’s gap, which had grown to seven seconds by that point, vanished, but the 18-year-old handled the restart beautifully on lap 20. Wurz tried to defend his position but struggled to keep his visibly damaged car on the road. Laurens van Hoepen managed to overtake him at Rascasse, and as the Trident driver tried to defend from the raging pack behind him, he understeered into the wall at Massenet on the next lap.

Just a couple of corners later, Brando Badoer crashed out of the race at Portier after being hit by Marinangeli at Portier. The incident ended a tough weekend for the Prema driver – who remains 30th in the points – and brought the safety car out on track for the second time.

Just before the restart at the end of lap 23, championship leader Rafael Câmara, running ninth, had his is right-rear tyre come loose exiting La Piscine before detaching altogether at Rascasse in a cruel twist of fate.

But Tsolov remained unfazed up front as he showcased his dominant pace once more in the final four laps. The Bulgarian ultimately crossed the finish line 7.243 seconds clear of Bilinski to become the first driver to take five wins in the current iteration of F3. He did so exactly a year to the day after taking his maiden F3 victory in the Monaco sprint race last year.

“I couldn’t feel any better,” he said in the post-race press conference. Thanks to his victory, the 18-year-old has jumped up to third in the drivers’ standings with 61 points, 16 fewer than championship leader Câmara has.

“I’ve always had the pace – I knew that since the first year I arrived in F3 – but it’s so much more than that in this championship,” Tsolov told Feeder Series when asked what he still had to adjust to challenge for the crown.

“Honestly, I thought I would have to do everything perfect. I was just chasing that perfect lap, chasing that perfect start, trying to do everything perfect, but it’s just not how it works. It’s more of being consistent, always putting your lap together, putting every sector together. … I just kind of changed my mentality over the years, and especially at the end of last year. It’s what’s helping me stay in front this year.”

Teammate Boya added to Campos’ fantastic day by collecting his first career feature race podium. He has now scored points in four of the last five races, including two top-five finishes, despite a tough start to the season that saw him fail to score in the first three outings.

“We didn’t have the start of the championship that I hoped, or maybe even that I deserved, but it is what it is,” the Spaniard said after the feature race. “We’re changing a bit the dynamic of how we work, and I think we’re starting to get the results, so I’m very happy with it.”

Voisin had to settle for fourth after hounding Boya in the final laps, while Tramnitz finished fifth to take his seventh consecutive top-six finish this season. The result also puts the German second overall, only 13 points behind Câmara.

ART enjoyed a second consecutive double points finish with Van Hoepen beating Taponen in the fight for sixth. Eighth was sprint race winner Martinius Stenshorne, while Louis Sharp took advantage of the late chaos to finish ninth, marking the first time that Rodin has scored points in F3 with all three cars in team history. Giusti rounded out the top 10 with his sixth consecutive points finish.

The biggest mover in the early stages was Brad Benavides, who rose from 19th to 15th in the first seven laps. He later received a 10-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage while battling Domingues and ultimately retired on lap 20.

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency