Nikola Tsolov earns F2 Sprint Race victory at Silverstone in final lap lunge

Credit: Formula 2 via X

It was Nikola Tsolov who took the Sprint Race win at Silverstone on Saturday afternoon to kickstart Round 7 of the Formula 2 season.

The Red Bull Junior and F1 hopeful trailed championship rival Gabriele Mini for most of the race, but a mistake from Mini in the final lap allowed Tsolov to advance into the lead and hold his position to claim victory. Whilst unable to catch Mini after a close chase in Lap 21, Van Amersfoort Racing driver Rafael Villagomez took third.

How it happened

Starting from reverse grid pole position, it was a charging start from Mini to maintain a strong lead up into Turn 1. On the other hand in second, Rimoto Miyata who held steady into the start of Lap 1, struggled to maintain momentum into Lap 2.

Tsolov had a favourable start off the line climbing from sixth into third, propelling him into podium contention.

Further back, it was chaos into Lap 2 as Trident driver John Bennett and PREMA backed Sebastian Montoya both found the gravel on the start-finish straight. The incident ended in a collision for the two drivers, and a safety car was deployed into Lap 6.

Upon the restart, positions remained stagnant but Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak made a late move on Roman Bilinski earning him seventh.

Come Lap 8, Tsolov made a brave move around the outside of Villagomez to claim second finding himself just over a second shy of championship rival and race leader, Mini.

Martinius Stenshorne was handed a 10-second penalty on Lap 10 for forcing another driver off the track earlier in the race.

As the race entered its second half Inthraphuvasak continued making progress passing Miyata to move into seventh. Meanwhile, it was the two DAMS racing drivers Bilinski and Dino Beganovic in eight and ninth respectively battling for the final points scoring position.

As the three-quarter mark approached and only five laps remained, Tsolov found impressive pace into Lap 16 and 17 finding himself within 0.4 seconds of Mini. The two battled wheel-to-wheel in the final laps, but it was the championship leader who maintained the lead.

Ferrari backed Beganovic was slowly progressing up the order after passing Joshua Durksen into Lap 20. Meanwhile, Stenshorne found himself spinning but continued the race.

A late lock up from Mini proved detrimental for the championship leader as Tsolov took the lead in the final lap. Simultaneously, Villagomez was also closing in putting further pressure on the Italian.

The Bulgarian claimed victory for the F2 Sprint Race finding the checkered flag in first, followed by Mini in second and Villagomez in third to finalise the podium.

Closely behind, Kush Maini, Inthraphuvasak, Beganovic, Bilinski and Durksen followed to round out the point scoring positions.

What’s next

With Tsolov and Mini now equal in the championship standings, the 2026 Formula 2 championship season will continue on Sunday at 12:15PM CEST for the Feature Race at the historic Silverstone Circuit.