Nikola Tsolov has been handed a five-place grid penalty for the 2026 Hungarian GP F2 Feature Race following a crash with Sebastian Montoya in the Sprint contest on Saturday afternoon at the Hungaroring.
Having started on pole position, the Colombian had lost the lead on the 17th lap when Gabriele Mini got him on the switchback out of turn 1 as the PREMA driver had locked up after trying to cover the inside line.
Nikola Tsolov and Sebastian Montoya come together in the 2026 F2 Hungarian GP Sprint Race
With his pace starting to drop quite significantly, next up was the championship leader Nikola Tsolov. On lap 21, the Bulgarian sent it into turn 1 on the Colombian but got it all wrong as he was never getting it stopped. He hit the PREMA car hard, with both drivers picking up damage that ended their races.
The stewards unsurprisingly handed Nikola Tsolov a penalty for Sunday’s F2 Feature Race at the Hungarian GP; it would have been a 10-second time penalty but got converted into a grid drop as he failed to see the flag thanks to a broken suspension.
On Friday, he qualified down in P7, meaning he will now start 12th.
Stewards verdict:
“The driver of Car 6 explained that he had DRS and saw an opportunity to overtake Car 11 on the inside of Turn 1. He stated that, upon reaching the apex, Car 11 moved towards the right hand side of the track, leaving insufficient room and resulting in contact between the two cars. The driver of Car 11 explained that he approached and negotiated the corner normally and observed Car 6 attempting a late overtaking manoeuvre.
“He acknowledged that Car 6 had achieved overlap at the apex but contended that this was a consequence of Car 6 carrying excessive speed into Turn 1, which forced him to drive on the kerb. Contact subsequently occurred between the cars during the corner.
“Having carefully considered the matter, the Stewards determined that Car 6 was overly optimistic in attempting the overtake at Turn 1. The manoeuvre was initiated late, and Car 6 carried excessive speed into the corner, which significantly contributed to the incident.
“The Stewards concluded that Car 6 was predominantly responsible for the collision and therefore elected to impose a drop of five grid positions for the drivers’ next race plus 2 penalty points.”
