Nikola Tsolov: ‘We’re making good progress with 2025 car’

It was déjà vu for Campos Racing as Nikola Tsolov monopolised the top spot on day two of pre-season testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

The Bulgarian driver set a 1:26.618 in the morning to wind up with the fastest time of the day and remained quickest of all in the afternoon on a 1:27.249.

Speaking after stepping out of the car, Tsolov said he and the team were happy with the progress they’ve made across the opening two days of 2025.

“It was a good day, I think we managed to learn quite a lot about the car, which is important at this stage,” Tsolov explained. “We definitely look strong and improved the things we wanted to work on today. But obviously, we haven’t learned everything completely yet.

“I think there’s still a lot to find out, but overall, I’m happy replicating what we did in the post-season test, and I hope we keep learning and gathering useful data.”

The Red Bull Junior Team driver is gearing up for his third F3 campaign this year and having been able to sample both the old generation of car and the brand-new 2025 machine, he says there is no comparison between the two.

Revamped aerodynamics and bigger 16-inch Pirelli tyres mean everyone has a lot to get through during the Barcelona test, something Tsolov believes Campos have made a strong start on.

He added that he was happy to see the times after day two, with his best effort beneath what he managed on his last visit to the circuit in the old car.

READ MORE: Tsolov sweeps Day 2 of Barcelona pre-season testing for Campos Racing

“The car is so different to the old one, you can’t even compare it. Everything you can think of feels different. We were expecting the car to be a bit slower, but in the end, it’s actually faster than the old one, even though it’s heavier, which is a positive thing to see. The way you drive it is different as well.

“The aero is quite different, so that’s the main thing to learn. We have tried quite a lot of different things aero-wise, which is the area we have improved as well.

“We’re still looking forward to understanding a bit more about the new tyre, that’s the only thing touching the ground in the end, so it makes the biggest difference. Understanding the tyre a bit more will be the biggest key for the season ahead.”

Teammates Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak and Mari Boya joined Tsolov at the top of the timing screens in the afternoon session, with the Thai driver second overall and the Spaniard sixth.

Tsolov says that it is further proof that he and his new team are working well together, ahead of a vital final day.

With plenty more data to get through, the Bulgarian says the team’s run plan will be shifting towards understanding how the car behaves over a long run on day three.

“It’s good for the team. It just means that we’re pushing ourselves to be better as teammates. That’s what makes a dream team.

“We still have two more new sets of tyres, so that’s what we’ll be running in the morning just like everyone else. Then we’ll move our focus onto long runs in the afternoon as we haven’t done many of those yet.

“That’s probably the area we’ll look into most tomorrow and try and do a better job like today.”