Nikola Tsolov left Budapest disappointed after securing only 6 points in the Formula 2 Hungarian GP Feature Race.
The championship leader suffered a disappointing weekend in Budapest. With a frantic qualifying session, a retirement in the Sprint Race, and being slapped with a five-place grid penalty, his weekend before the Feature Race was chaotic.
His retirement in the Sprint cost him valuable points in the tight championship. Even so, the Bulgarian sits 20 points ahead of second place. Despite the bad weekend, Tsolov continues to stride forward as he looks ahead to Monza.
Tsolov uses setback as motivation
After starting the race from 12th place, he put up a fight to battle his way through the pack. Despite his efforts, it was not enough for a podium finish. The Bulgarian finished the race in seventh place, earning 6 points.
Tsolov reflected on the dissapointing weekend: “”It’s been a while since we’ve had a bad one, but we knew this moment would come at some point.
“Unfortunately, too much risk on Saturday really cost us a few points this weekend, and I think with the penalty we got for today, it really set us back.
“We could have easily scored 15-16 points, but we came away only with six. It was tough to swallow yesterday, but in the end, I’m glad it happened in a moment like this, because it’s just part of the learning process. I had the buffer, let’s say, to make that mistake, learn and improve for the rest of the year. It can only motivate me.”
Despite the setbacks, the young driver chose to look at the positives. Taking it as motivation to bounce back stronger can only help him charge forward.
“I’m also glad that we had a decent comeback today after the fall down yesterday. In a sense, because we’ve done all the hard work coming in now, there is never going to be a good time to have a bad weekend, but again, it’s part of the learning process.” Tsolov continued.
“For me, it’s about how quickly you’re able to get back on your feet and how quickly you’re able to turn the negative into a positive. That was the tough part yesterday.
“As long as you do the tough job overnight and, in the morning, then the race is the easy part, because that’s something you should already have automatically in you.”
Strategy and few opportunities
With the grid penalty costing him five positions, making up for the loss became important. But going into the Feature Race after a rough qualifying made it difficult to fight. As the Hungaroring makes overtaking difficult, the chances of a podium finish were slim.
“The odds were against us a little bit today in terms of strategy and stuff. We didn’t really get the opportunity to make up so much, so we had to do most of it on track.” Tsolov said.
“But, overtaking here is almost impossible. To overtake five cars, after being involved in an incident in lap one, where I lost three places, I think it’s the max we could do. The pace was good as well, so I’m honestly feeling quite positive.”
“The car didn’t feel too bad after the incident, so I think it was okay. Even if I did have damage, it was not slowing me down, for sure. I think we knew that the Soft was going to stay in for quite a bit. When the temperatures are quite hot, usually the softer compounds behave better, compared to the harder ones.
“Just because you slide less and you overheat them less. I think that’s the main reason, and then you get graining when it’s cold.
“Today, on a hot day, we knew that the Soft would last longer; maybe that was a mistake. We stayed out a little bit too long on the Medium; we couldn’t really box early to undercut the cars in front on the same strategy because we wanted to wait and see if there was a Safety Car, because I would have come out in P2.
“We took that gamble, but obviously luck was not fully with us today. But that’s okay. We save it for the better moments.”
Tsolov aims to come back stronger
Even though the Bulgarian had a bad weekend in Hungary, he leaves Budapest leading the championship. Tsolov has accumulated 167 points thus far, and his resilience has shone through the season. After the summer break, there are still five rounds to go, and Tsolov appears to be the favourite for the title, alongside rivals Gabriele Mini and Rafa Camara.
The Bulgarian reflected on the first half of the season and said: “It’s been a great season so far. It’s crazy that we’ve been through nine rounds already. It didn’t feel long because we were back-to-back quite a lot of times. But I look back on it with so many positives.
“A lot learned, so many good and bad moments, emotions both ways. 20 points ahead still, so I can really disconnect now a little bit and take some time off. I think having that break to really acknowledge everything that happened, it’s going to be beneficial for me. I think I can come back stronger than ever, and this is what I’ll be aiming for.”
Tsolov can be satisfied with his effort in the first half of the season, and even bad weekends can lead to improvement. Coming back from the summer break, there will be plenty of time left to make up for the loss of points in Hungary. The championship battle can only heat up from here.
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