Formula 2 Report: Red Bull starlet Nikola Tsolov makes perfect start in Australia

Tsolov showed his potential last time out, picking up a Sprint podium in Abu Dhabi. He followed this up with a fast start to qualifying in Melbourne, qualifying fifth, and when the sh!t hit the fan in the main race, he was there to pick up the pieces and snatch a fantastic win. 

Dino Beganovic squandered pole with an appalling start, dropping to fifth in the first two corners. This opened the door to newly signed Alpine man Alex Dunne and Martinius Stenshorne, who promptly ran into each other—and when a late safety car presented an opportunity to snatch the lead, Tsolov took it with both hands. 

Having made a well-timed charge, shown excellent race management, and acted like an old head on young shoulders, the Bulgarian is already an early title favourite. 

Tsolov said: "The start was really strong. I seem to do well going from fifth historically, so that's quite funny. But I got a good start, a good launch. I think I did a procedure very nicely and then ended up in third already on Lap 1. 

“To be fair, I had the chance to go maybe for first in T1, but I just knew the race was long and that was not worth the risk. Then I just let it unfold a little bit, and then I saw the two Rodins fighting really, really hard.

“So, then I just let them do their thing, and I avoided the crash, which was important for me. Once I got the race lead, that's when I felt the best. I felt confident and I just knew how to lead the race.”

Formula 1 may have seen some farcical battery-dominated racing in Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix, but F2 hasn’t adopted the same problematic ruleset. As such, the series (now entering its tenth year) retained its signature brand of thrills and spills across a messy weekend.

Sebastian Montoya ran into newcomer Roman Bilinski before the main race had even started. Dunne then stormed past Beganovic off the line (and might’ve taken the lead had he not locked his front tyres) before racking up yet another foolish error by cutting across and wiping out Stenshorne. 

He launched a tirade on the radio, but make no mistake, this was definitely his fault. 

Unlike in F1, F2’s youngsters weren’t hamstrung by their engines; they could give it full beans into T9, and there were several big moves into this corner, notably Ritomo Miyata made a wild overtake on the outside of Kush Maini for P7.

Beganovic fought back into contention only for his engine to give up in fourth place when he was the fastest on track—very unlucky for the Ferrari Academy driver!

Nico Varrone inherited the lead under the ensuing safety car, but he was quickly picked off by Tsolov and then dropped dramatically out of the points. Formula 3 champion Rafael Camara swept in to grab second, while Laurens van Hoepen took his third F2 podium, coming home in P3. 

Promoted to Mercedes development driver in the off-season, Josh Durksen will have arrived in Melbourne in high spirits. But he didn’t get off to the best of starts, dropping behind Oliver Goethe into P3 at the opening corner. Initially sprint polesitter Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak gapped this squabbling pair.

However, Durksen relentlessly reeled in and overtook them both. The Paraguayan's brave divebomb on Goethe at T9 was a particular highlight. Under pressure from Maini, Goethe then spun off. Varrone wasn’t far behind him, flying off at the final corner in a chaotic opening few laps. 

Tsolov, Maini, and Camara went three-wide into T11 as Bilinski led a four-car train further back. Dunne pulled off an outstanding move on Maini for P6, who thought the Irishman was defending against Tsolov and left the door open. The latter was then clattered by Colton Herta at T3. 

The American Indy star was off the pace and misjudged this move badly, sending Tsolov spinning out of contention. He'll need to up his game to get the super license points needed for the F1 opportunity he so craves. 

Up front, debutant Nicolas Leon sold Inthraphuvasak a dummy to take P2, Dunne followed him through for P3, and Camara dropped from the podium out of the points. Gallingly, teammate Durksen took the win, giving champions Invicta a positive start.