Bulgaria's Nikola Tsolov Impresses on Formula 1 Debut in Mexico

· novinite.com

Nikola Tsolov recorded the 12th-fastest time in his first official Formula 1 session, delivering a strong performance in the opening free practice ahead of the Mexico City Grand Prix.

The Bulgarian, known as the "Bulgarian Lion," set his best lap at 1:19.604 on his third flying lap, using Pirelli soft-compound tires. He finished 0.126 seconds behind his Racing Bulls teammate Arvid Lindblad, who placed 10th.

Tsolov started the session with two runs on medium-compound slick tires, alternating between fast laps and slower ones. His only notable mistake came near the end of the second run, when he locked up his front-left tire under braking for the first corner. Speaking over the team radio, he explained that the car had "bottomed out" at the beginning of the braking zone, briefly lifting the wheel off the ground before it touched the track again and locked up.

He then switched to soft tires and completed three fast laps, with cool-down laps in between. After this first stint on the soft compound, he briefly got out of the car because of a cramp in his right leg. He returned to the track for the closing minutes, again on soft tires, and completed 28 laps in total.

Charles Leclerc topped the session, which featured 10 rookies, with a time of 1:18.128, finishing 0.659 seconds ahead of Andrea Kimi Antonelli. Frederik Vesti was third, 0.733 seconds off the pace, after taking George Russell's place in the second Mercedes for the opening 60-minute practice at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.

Ferrari was the only team not to field a rookie in the first practice session in Mexico. Lewis Hamilton took fourth place, 0.738 seconds behind his teammate. Ayumu Iwasa, driving Max Verstappen's car, finished fifth. The top 10 also featured Pierre Gasly, Fernando Alonso, Oscar Piastri, Oliver Bearman and Lindblad, while Hadjar finished between Bearman and Tsolov.

The Mexico City Grand Prix, the 19th round of the 2026 Formula 1 season, continues tonight at 00:00 Bulgarian time with the second free practice session at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. All 22 full-time drivers are scheduled to take part.

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