Campos Racing’s Nikola Tsolov arrives at the historic Imola circuit this weekend looking to build on his early-season momentum and close the gap to championship leader Rafael Câmara, as Formula 3 begins its demanding European triple-header.
The Bulgarian driver currently sits fifth in the championship standings with 23 points following a mixed start to his 2025 campaign, highlighted by an impressive Sprint Race victory in Bahrain after a challenging Melbourne opener.
Bahrain breakthrough
Tsolov’s weekend in Bahrain demonstrated his growing reputation as one of F3’s most exciting talents. After Qualifying in P8, the Campos Racing driver showed exceptional race craft throughout both races, claiming victory in Saturday’s Sprint Race before fighting through to P4 in Sunday’s Feature Race.
"Come on mate. You're the lion!" 📻
— Formula 3 (@Formula3) April 12, 2025
Tsolov just needed a little pep talk from Campos over the radio 😅#F3 #BahrainGP pic.twitter.com/6uGNtUUYLv
In the Feature Race, Tsolov showcased his overtaking abilities and tyre management skills. Starting from P8, he methodically worked his way through the field, overtaking Noah Strømsted for P6 on Lap 15 into Turn 1. His pace continued to improve throughout the race, eventually allowing him to challenge Charlie Wurz for P5 by Lap 19, executing a clean pass after getting a great exit out of Turn 1.
The Bulgarian’s pace remained strong in the closing stages, battling with ART Grand Prix’s Tuukka Taponen for P4 in the final corners. This performance, combined with his Sprint Race win, marked one of the most complete race weekends of his F3 career to date.
Championship picture
Despite his strong race performances in Bahrain, Nikola Tsolov acknowledges that Rafael Câmara has established a significant early advantage in the championship standings, ahead of the Imola GP. The Trident driver sits atop the standings with 56 points following his dominant Feature Race win in Bahrain, where he finished over 6 seconds ahead of Callum Voisin.
However, Tsolov notes that the battle for second place remains extremely tight, with just seven points separating him in fifth from Tim Tramnitz in second.
When asked by Pit Debrief about how he aims to fight for the championship ahead of the Imola GP, Nikola Tsolov said, “Rafa’s [Câmara] pretty far up, but if we see the standings, P2 is not really that far away. It’s only seven points from me that I’m standing P5.”
“I think the important thing is just to have a good momentum through the triple header, have a good first weekend, and then build on that base, and overall scoring points in three weekends will be the most important thing, and like he said, I think a lot can change after this triple header, so it will be quite interesting to watch, and I’m really excited to already get started.”
The European triple-header
As F3 embarks on its European leg of the season, drivers face the daunting prospect of three consecutive race weekends at Imola, Monaco and Barcelona. This stretch could prove pivotal in shaping the championship battle.
“Of course the European side of the season is probably the better one and the quicker one. I think it’s a hard triple header,” Tsolov explained.
“We’re coming up to two really difficult tracks, I think Imola and Monaco and then obviously Barcelona track that everyone knows. So again, difficult because times are going to be tight. For me, preparation has been mainly been physically to be able to be good all three rounds.”
“I had to focus on gaining weight obviously, as we expect to lose a lot during every weekend, and obviously just the best way to improve the car and to work on the parts we need to improve.”
Tsolov focuses on F3 Imola GP Qualifying
While Tsolov’s race pace has been impressive, he identifies Qualifying as an area requiring improvement if he’s to challenge for the championship. When asked by Pit Debrief about recovery drives should Qualifying not go to plan at Imola, Nikola Tsolov emphasised his focus on Saturday’s all-important session.
“To be honest, the main point of focus for us this year has been the Qualifying, which we have been struggling to match our expectations. So I wouldn’t want to think about having a rather bad Quali. So I’d rather focus on there,” Tsolov stated.
“But for sure, if you have not great, if you’re in top 12, I think your weekend is on the right foot already. And you can make up places in the race. We’ve seen last year, the back [straight] has been massive, which gives a lot of opportunity for overtakes and just a fun race in general.”
“So I think it wouldn’t be a big issue to be starting fifth or sixth, but definitely don’t want to be much further back than that.”
An early season self-assessment
When asked to evaluate his performance in the 2025 season so far, Tsolov offered a candid assessment of his campaign.
“Although I’m standing fifth right now in the championship, I don’t think it’s where we would have liked to start, considering Melbourne was really difficult for me. We had a little trouble in Qualifying, which made the whole weekend difficult,” he reflected.
“Then Bahrain, we made definitely a step forward in Qualifying, but it hasn’t been, again, to our expectations. Although we managed to recover a lot in the races, I think it has been our strongest point so far this year.”
Despite these challenges, Tsolov remains optimistic about his trajectory, “The signs at the moment is that we’re only improving each time we go out on track, so we keep finding a lot of new things, which is the positive thing, and I’m sure that if we manage to fix Quali, my rating of the season will be much higher than what I think it is right now.”
Tyres and track evolution at Imola
With Pirelli bringing a new, softer compound for Formula 1 this weekend, questions have been raised about how this might affect track evolution and tyre management in the F3 races.
“I actually haven’t thought about this yet. I think F1 changing compound wouldn’t change too much on our side. It should be pretty similar,” Tsolov explained.
“The degradation we expect to be similar to Melbourne has the same compound, and probably similar to last year as well, so it will be crucial for the tyre degradation. I just maybe hope the track’s a bit grippier, considering F1 is a softer compound, but I don’t think it will be a huge change.”
The F3 action at Imola kicks off on Friday with Practice and Qualifying, followed by the Sprint Race on Saturday and Feature Race on Sunday.
