The British driver dominated Saturday’s race at the Yas Marina Circuit from lights to flag at the wheel of his Campos Racing-run machine. In the same sprint race, Tsolov climbed onto the third step of the podium, securing his maiden top-three finish in FIA Formula 2
The 2025 FIA Formula 2 season came to an end this past weekend, closing on a high note for Campos Racing and its drivers. Arvid Lindblad and Nikola Tsolov, both members of the Red Bull Junior Team, brought the Alzira-based squad onto the podium at Yas Marina, the venue hosting the curtain-closer of an exciting campaign. It was certainly a well-earned reward for the team’s effort throughout every round of the calendar, which yielded six wins and five additional podium finishes.
On Friday, as the drivers took to the Emirati tarmac for free practice, Lindblad hit the ground running. Despite losing one lap time due to track limits, he completed the session in third place with a personal best of 1m39.641s. Tsolov, experiencing Yas Marina in an F2 car for the very first time, adapted quickly and stopped the clock at 1m40.389s.
Later in the afternoon, qualifying unfolded with the expected razor-thin margins. Like several other drivers, both Lindblad and Tsolov had their first laps deleted for track limits as traffic complicated their initial runs. But the two regrouped. With their second sets of soft tyres, Lindblad provisionally went fastest with a 1m37.247s, a lap that ultimately secured him a place in the top ten. Tsolov, meanwhile, improved by the smallest of margins over his British teammate, setting a 1m37.231s that placed him ninth. Those results initially positioned the pair on the front row for Saturday’s reverse-grid start, but a three-place penalty issued to Tsolov for impeding Luke Browning in both races dropped the Bulgarian to the third row, leaving Lindblad alone on pole for the sprint.
Scheduled for 23 laps and with Lindblad and Tsolov lining up first and fifth on the reversed grid, both Campos Racing cars launched like rockets when the lights went out. Lindblad held the lead ahead of Joshua Duerksen, while Tsolov overtook both Victor Martins and Oliver Goethe. Lindblad controlled the opening phase of the race and maintained a stable gap over Duerksen, while Tsolov remained third by lap eight, at which point a Virtual Safety Car was deployed after John Bennett stopped on track. At the restart one lap later, Lindblad took advantage of a small mistake from Duerksen—who ran deep into Turn 12—to open a slight margin. From then on, it became a tyre-management exercise until the end. Lindblad stayed firmly in command, even as another VSC was deployed two laps from the finish to remove carbon-fibre debris. Duerksen attempted to close the gap, but Lindblad remained unshaken and crossed the line to claim his third win of the year, also securing the extra point for fastest lap. Tsolov, in just his third race in the category, sealed third place, finishing more than three seconds clear of Dino Beganovic.
Sunday’s feature race, contested over 33 laps and with track temperatures over 40°C, presented a strategic challenge regarding tyre choice. Both Campos Racing drivers opted to start on the hard compound and extend their opening stint as much as possible. Lindblad delivered a superb launch, climbing to sixth within the first few metres. Tsolov, surrounded by traffic, was unable to make similar progress. An early safety car was deployed following contact between Victor Martins and Alex Dunne, which left Dunne stranded in the middle of the track before being collected by Cian Shields. Racing resumed on lap six, and only one lap later the first pit stops began. This allowed Lindblad and Tsolov—running the alternate strategy—to move up the order, with the future F1 driver climbing to second behind Leonardo Fornaroli. Everything was running smoothly until around lap ten, when Sebas Montoya spun and stalled on track. Initially, Race Control opted for a VSC, but after a couple of laps the safety car was called once more, neutralising the advantage gained by the alternate-strategy runners, including Lindblad and Tsolov. The race resumed on lap 14, and from there the objective was clear: build as large a gap as possible before pitting. Lindblad began to pressure Fornaroli, and the two engaged in a thrilling battle for the lead. The duel was finally settled in favour of the Red Bull driver on lap 22, as Lindblad made a decisive move at Turn 9. From that moment on, the Briton pushed at fastest-lap pace to pull away, first from Fornaroli and later from Jak Crawford. Tsolov pitted on lap 28, followed by Lindblad one lap later. The long Yas Marina pit lane cost them several positions, but Lindblad managed to secure ninth place at the chequered flag, while Tsolov completed the race in 12th.
After fourteen rounds, Lindblad concludes the championship in sixth place with 134 points. Despite not competing in the final two events, Pepe Martí holds eighth position with 112 points. In the teams’ standings, Campos Racing secures third place overall with 258 points.
FIA Formula 2 engines will roar again in just a few days at Yas Marina, with post-season testing scheduled from 10 to 12 December.
Arvid Lindblad (Campos Racing Driver in FIA Formula 2): “I think it was a positive weekend here in Abu Dhabi. I felt good with the car right from Free Practice. Friday wasn’t easy, obviously, as I was jumping between categories, but even so I was quite happy with how I adapted. That’s why qualifying was a bit disappointing, because I felt I did a really good job and yet we had a lot of question marks regarding the lack of performance. We saw some strange things that didn’t really make sense, especially compared with the other car, so it’s a shame because we should definitely have started further up the grid and we don’t really understand why we didn’t. Moving on to the Sprint Race, it was really strong and I was very happy with the pace. Today was a bit of a shame. We knew our pace was very strong, so we wanted to run in free air and rolled the dice with the alternate strategy because we were quick enough for a podium. Unfortunately, the Safety Car ruined the race for us. First it went to a VSC and then it became a full Safety Car after a few laps, and that changed everything. Without that, I think we would have been fighting for the podium. It’s a sad way to end the weekend and the year because a double podium would have been amazing and I really believe it was possible. But it is what it is. No regrets about the strategy—our pace deserved that chance. A huge thank you to the team for this weekend and for the whole year. It hasn’t always been easy or gone as we hoped, but we worked really well together and I’m very grateful for all their effort. Now I’m looking forward to a bit of time off, and very soon getting back to work for next year as a Formula One driver.”
Nikola Tsolov (Campos Racing Driver in FIA Formula 2): “Overall, it was a good week. I qualified inside the top ten, which I honestly didn’t expect after Free Practice, but I still managed to put a lap together. In the Sprint Race I finally got my first podium after a few rounds, and I was really glad about that because now it’s something I don’t need to think about anymore. The car was strong, and that’s what really made the race. Today in the Feature Race we were a bit unlucky with the strategy, so in the end we didn’t gain any positions. I started P12 and finished there, which was quite disappointing because I think we had the pace for a bit more. But it was still really valuable learning for me. I got to experience another pit stop, another Feature Race, and that’s the main goal and the most important thing for next year. So overall, I’m happy with the weekend and looking forward to the three days of testing and then the winter break.”
