Hanging with friends and DJing: Behind the Visor with Nikola Tsolov

Nikola Tsolov’s 2025 campaign has been a historic one as his Feature Race victory in Monte Carlo means he has now won five times in Formula 3 – the most by any driver in the Championship’s history.

But the Campos Racing driver has a life outside of the records and recently he sat down to talk about what he does to keep himself busy away from the track.

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“I’m very different on track and off track. I find myself to be a relaxed guy, who doesn't put too much pressure on himself off track and I tend to like to go outside a lot.

“I spend a lot of time with friends, doing a lot of activities. I love music, I love other sports as well, so anything that is activity and music is what I am in too. Of course I do a lot of sim as well, because sometimes I miss racing, so I get in the sim and drive.

“It's more normal stuff, padel, tennis, ping pong, and then obviously games as well, mainly board games. You get a group of friends, like 15 people to play board games, that's quite fun in the evenings. To be honest I am pretty much down for everything, I love going to the beach as well.

“I could play monopoly, but I haven't played in a while. I don't know if you know Dixit. It's like cards, with drawings, it's long to explain, but it's a nice game.

“I think it's good to feel like more of a normal person, to live a normal lifestyle when I go back to Bulgaria, especially with my friends. It's quite difficult because I get recognised, especially in Bulgaria, so I can't really just have my peace and do the things normal people would do.

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“But it's still quite good to take some time off. Go to the beach, play beach volleyball, swim, jet ski. I still get to live a normal life.

“In terms of music, I can listen to anything, depending on the week to be honest. I like to DJ a little bit, I've been doing it for three years, not very often, but my best friend is starting to get involved with music as well.

“I love listening to music, it brings me a good mood and energy, and it's easier to get it, especially on a racing weekend, to get in the right mood.

“I like to be on the aux wherever I have to say, considering I listen to everything, I know all the good songs in every genre, so whenever someone asks me for a genre, I normally play a good one.

“I was actually DJ'ing a little bit at my own birthday last year, but I actually had some good DJs, some professionals came and performed, and it was great.

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“It's something I learned actually from an ex F3 driver, Alex Peroni. He is one of my closest friends, and we used to do it at home a lot. It was quite interesting for us, and we spent some good times doing it. He got me into it, because he had a deck and only recently did I buy one myself.

“All in all, to be honest, I literally like most things, but for me the most enjoyable is when I get with a good group of friends and we just talk. We have dinner or lunch, play bowling, pool, or anything, just getting a group of people is what I enjoy the most.”