Formula 2 championship leader Nikola Tsolov is ready to tackle the upcoming challenge of the F2 Spanish GP at the recently built Madrid track. Right after a more challenging weekend in Monza, during which his gap to second placed Câmara significantly reduced, the Bulgarian is anticipating the change of pace.
A completely new Madrid track awaits Tsolov at F2 Spanish GP
In fact, the Madring will pose a rather different threat compared to the historical, albeit chaotic Monza round. The narrow street circuit will test driver skills and car handling, with the Formula 2 grid set to have their first test of its tweaks curves tomorrow during Practice.
Tsolov discussed his feelings ahead of his 2026 F2 Spanish GP in the Virtual Media Roundtable, attended by Pit Debrief, explaining how the lack of on-hand track knowledge will impact his Madrid outings throughout the weekend.
“It’s exciting to be at a new track and especially a track with such an intensity like this one. It will be fun to figure out what it actually feels driving it because we don’t have much experience. We only know stuff from the F3 test but again, it’s just a really different car so it’s going to be a bit of a surprise for everyone.”
“Challenging, I think, the whole track as one is challenging because you don’t have any straights so you’re just really from one corner to another, so you really need to keep your focus a lot. It’s going to be very intense. Probably, you’re draining mentally but the important part is to have a clear head and attack it.”
Simulator work has its perks and hardships
Asked by Pit Debrief on how useful simulator work has been in the preparation of the weekend, or if it might cause a false sense of security due to the no impact crashes, Tsolov shared his peculiar experience.
”Obviously the sim is usually hard to drive in tracks like these. It’s easier to do a mistake on the sim or have a bug which puts you out a little bit. On my side for some reason I’ve been doing better on this track on the sim than usual. I found it easier, although the track is harder.”
“Maybe I was able to focus more and be less relaxed, for which I was able to get more potential out of myself. So in that sense, I did feel good on the sim already from the first lap, to be honest. I found my way quite quickly. I’m looking forward to it. But for sure, it’s more difficult to drive a straight track on the sim. No margin for error, but it’s the same in real life.”
A good Friday will be the marks of a good weekend
According to Tsolov, in order to have a strong performance at Madring, 2026 F2 season securing a strong front row start will be fundamental, as per usual with street circuits. While there will be three more racing weekends for the series after the Madrid round, the reduced gap to only 11 points will not allow the Campos driver to rest easily.
”The most important thing to start as further ahead as possible in the grid and then manage the race good. But I do believe that it’s a little similar to Monaco, where qual is going to be the most important part of the weekend.”
The Campos man, in his second year with the Spanish team, highlighted the strong role track evolution will have over the span of the more sessions completed on track.
“You tend to think you’re in the limit in the beginning, but there’s quite a lot of lap time that you can still further find, and you experience yourself in situations like that more in the F2 car. I would say it’s a little harder to find limits. Then, going from hard to soft, FP to qualifying will be probably around, like John said, two seconds just from the compound.”
“I think we’ll easily go maybe three or more seconds quicker in quali, so it would be a big jump. I quite like those kind of qualis. It’s quite exciting to try and find the limit and be on top of it from the get-go.”
Twisty layouts alike: Madrid, Monaco, and Miami
Tsolov compared the Madrid track for the 2026 F2 Spanish GP out of hall his previous racing experiences to the twisty Macau, where he had competed back in 2023.
“I do think the walls remind me so much of Macau. You know, they’re not really rounded, they’re in edges. So that creates an illusion where you can go close to the wall, but you actually end up being too close and touching it. In that sense, I think it’s quite sketchy. The asphalt is much better than Macau. It reminds me of Miami, where it’s very completely resurfaced and nice to drive, I would say. So in that sense, maybe easier than Macau. I was comparing those two tracks, Miami and Macau, to it. So it’ll be fun, but yeah, I expect a lot of crashes.”
A fresh start for Tsolov
Finally, the championship leader rounded off his press day by remarking his relaxed approach to the approaching racing weekend. While Câmara managed to score consistently in Italy, reducing his distance to the Campos youngster, Tsolov is not too worried as he prefers to keep a positive, fresh mindset ahead of the 2026 F2 Madrid round at the Spanish GP
“Each weekend is individual, and you start from zero. You need to look at it that way. Obviously, when you think about it that way, yes, he’s been catching up, so maybe you have the idea to feel stressed about it, but if you tell me it’s the opposite, if I’ve been behind before this weekend and because of Monza, I’m ahead, I’ll tell you I’m really confident.”
“So I just try to put it in that way in my head that it’s the situation we’re in right now, and if you told me that before starting the season that I would be in this position, I’ll tell you yes. So just fully fresh, fully starting from zero this weekend, and yeah, looking forward to it.”
