Nikola Tsolov has done the double in Formula 2. After winning the sprint race at Silverstone on Saturday, the Campos Racing driver put himself in contention with a dazzling start, executed the move for the lead after the pit stops, and held off the alternate-strategy runners to secure the feature race victory. Feeder Series spoke to Tsolov, Van Amersfoort Racing’s Rafael Villagómez and ART Grand Prix’s Kush Maini in the post-race press conference about their race.

By August Bamford 

Starting fifth on the grid, Tsolov got past three cars on the opening lap to move into second behind Maini. After his pit stop, he closed right onto the rear of the Alpine junior and made the decisive move on lap 20 of 29 to take control of the race. 

There was briefly concern that those who had started on the hard tyre and extended their opening stints would have the advantage of fresher rubber in the closing stages, but Tsolov had already built a sufficient gap to neutralise the threat. He ultimately controlled the race to the flag to secure his sixth victory of the 2026 F2 season and a third consecutive victory as well. He has now won one-third of the F2 races he has started – a record in the championship – and put himself just one triumph shy of tying Charles Leclerc and George Russell’s record of seven in one season.

“At the start of the season, we were a bit too up and down,” Tsolov told Feeder Series in the post-race press conference. “The key has just been to simplify things a bit and focus on execution across the whole weekend. I feel like if we don’t start on the front row, we can still fight for the win. That consistency gives me confidence and, when you’re in that rhythm, you can capitalise when opportunities come like today.”

Before lights even went out, Rodin Motorsport’s Martinius Stenshorne was absent from the grid after stopping on the run to Copse on the installation lap. He failed to make the race start, reducing the field from 22 cars to 21.

Maini got a brilliant launch from the second row of the grid, taking the lead by the first corner. Conversely, it was a poor start for both polesitter Rafael Câmara and Rodin’s Alex Dunne on the front row. Both drivers were jumped at the start not only by Maini but also by championship leader Tsolov, who threaded the needle to jump from fifth on the grid to second. 

Maini opened up a gap of more than 1.5 seconds by lap two as he looked to break clear at the front ahead of Tsolov. Behind them, Câmara came under pressure from Dunne and went off track while defending position on the opening lap, briefly retaining the place with all four wheels beyond the track limits at Village. He ultimately gave the position back to avoid potential stewarding action. 

At the same time, Roman Bilinski endured a poor start, dropping from fourth to sixth before losing two places to Villagómez and Invicta’s Joshua Dürksen, who were both running hard tyres.

On lap six, the first round of mandatory pit stops began, with race leader Maini, Tsolov, Dunne and Câmara all diving into the pits. That promoted those who had started on the hard tyres, led by Villagómez and Dürksen, to first and second on the alternate strategy, with six more drivers also lined up for extended opening stints.

Little separated Tsolov and Maini as they exited the pits, with the Red Bull junior close enough to make a pass on lap eight. It never came off, and Maini extended his lead to more than a second on lap nine to break free of DRS. Later that lap, Bilinski started his recovery from his earlier mishaps, pulling off a late-braking move to go down the inside of ART’s Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak at Stowe for fifth among the option-prime runners.

By lap 13, the race settled into a phase of tyre management, with those who had pitted nursing their tyres to the end of the race while the alternate-strategy runners worked to extend their opening stints. The pace of the early stoppers became apparent, as Maini and Tsolov both swept past AIX Racing’s Cian Shields with relative ease, the gap between the two still sitting at 1.7 seconds. Without further advances from Tsolov, the ART Grand Prix driver seemed to be on course for his first feature race win.

“In the case of Silverstone, I’ve come in the British ranks,” Maini reflected. “British F3 for two years, so this place has always been home for me, I’ve always enjoyed it. I also live 15 minutes away, so it’s basically my second home race because India is not on the calendar. 

“Every year is different. I’ve been with four different teams and every single team has a different way to get the lap time out of the car, so that’s been very interesting. I still remember in Abu Dhabi last year, I qualified 18th in F2, and then three days later I was doing the tests in F1 and I was on the pace, so it can be very strange sometimes, but I’m just happy that this has been the most consistent I’ve felt week in, week out for a very long time. I’m happy to have found that stride with my team.”

Tsolov, however, found himself within striking distance of Maini by lap 19, making unsuccessful attempts at Stowe and then at Vale. A lap later, however, Tsolov found an opening entering Maggots, pulling off a superb move around the outside of Turn 11 to snatch eighth place on the road and, crucially, the net race lead.

On lap 21, those on the alternate strategy began their pit stops, including championship contender Gabriele Minì, who cycled out into 12th place behind Inthraphuvasak after pitting on lap 22. Villagómez, who pitted on lap 24, emerged from the pits in fifth but dropped to seventh, losing out to Dunne and Câmara briefly. By the end of lap 25, however, his tyres were fully up to temperature, and the Mexican swept back past both drivers to put himself into the podium places by lap 27. 

“The experience does help,” Villagómez explained. “You know, more or less, what to expect. The beauty of motorsports is that it’s unpredictable, and weekend after weekend it’s completely different. You need to be really open-minded and always trying to improve and learn because we’ve seen multiple cases this year where what worked last year doesn’t really work this year. There are still some areas where having that knowledge helps a lot. It’s clear, for example, with my teammate that is the case. [Nico Varrone] showed that he’s also pretty quick at times, but experience helps quite a lot.”

On lap 28, Villagómez also passed Maini for second into Village. The Mexican potentially had more in the tank, but with just one lap remaining to get Tsolov – who held a five-second advantage – there was simply not enough time to challenge the Campos driver. Tsolov comfortably crossed the line with a gap of 3.233 seconds to take the feature race victory.

Away from the podium, Dunne and Câmara both slipped to fourth and fifth respectively after starting on the front row. Minì and Noel León, both on the alternate strategy, carved their way through the field in the final stint to finish sixth and seventh. León also secured the bonus point for fastest lap after setting a 1:43.021 on lap 27.

Bilinski had an eventful race, engaging in battles with Dürksen and Inthraphuvasak and ultimately coming out on top of that group to finish eighth. Dürksen took ninth, while Inthraphuvasak rounded out the top 10 as the final points scorer. 

Prema Racing’s Sebastián Montoya retired on lap 17 with terminal rear suspension damage following earlier contact with teammate Mari Boya. It capped off a weekend to forget for the Colombian driver and marked his third retirement in a row since his podium in the Spielberg sprint race.

After seven of 14 rounds of the championship, Tsolov’s strong winning record has put him firmly in control of the title fight. He has pulled out a lead of 17 points over Minì, 141 to 124. Behind them, Câmara and Dunne remain third and fourth in the standings with 94 and 92 points respectively, while León sits fifth on 69 points.

The advantage has increased further for Campos Racing in the teams’ championship with both Tsolov and León scoring points in the feature race, while MP Motorsport’s Oliver Goethe finished only 18th. As a result, Campos hold a 58-point lead over MP, 210 points to 152. Behind them, Rodin Motorsport sit third on 140 points after Stenshorne’s non-start dented their weekend, while Invicta Racing have closed the gap slightly thanks to their double points finish and now sit fourth on 120 points. ART Grand Prix also moved up to fifth following Maini’s podium finish, which also lifted the Indian driver to sixth in the drivers’ standings.

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency