Historic debut: Nikola Tsolov finishes 12th in Mexico first practice
Nikola Tsolov finished 12th on his official Formula 1 session debut in Mexico and thanked Racing Bulls for a unique experience.
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Photo: © LAP.bg
Nikola Tsolov finished 12th in first practice for the Mexico City Grand Prix, making his first appearance in an official Formula 1 race weekend session. The Bulgarian drove Liam Lawson’s Racing Bulls at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, with an hour to work with the team’s current car.
P12 in a 22-driver field
Tsolov finished directly behind Isack Hadjar and ahead of Nico Hulkenberg. Racing Bulls’ other driver, Arvid Lindblad, ended the session in tenth. Charles Leclerc set the fastest time for Ferrari with a 1:18.128, followed by Mercedes drivers Kimi Antonelli and Frederik Vesti. The full classification has been published by Motorsport Week.
The session gave several young and reserve drivers the opportunity to replace regular race drivers. For Nikola, however, it was his first experience of working with the team from the cockpit during an official race weekend, following his preparation and August test at Imola.
More than a fast lap
Before taking to the track, Tsolov told Pitlane24 that his main objective was to get to know the car. He emphasised adapting to the machinery, communicating with the engineers and understanding how the car’s systems work.
He also stressed that he wanted to build up gradually and bring the car back undamaged. That provides important context for the classification: position is only one part of assessing such an outing, alongside completing the programme and providing useful feedback.
In the Racing Bulls spotlight
The debut comes as Racing Bulls’ future driver line-up remains a talking point. Formula1.com has already devoted an article to Tsolov’s candidacy for 2027 and the choice between him, Lawson and Lindblad. The Mexico outing is an opportunity for the Bulgarian to demonstrate his development, but does not in itself mean a race seat has been confirmed.
“Thank you for this unique experience”
The emotion of his first official session came through in Nikola’s message of thanks to the people who made the moment possible:
“Thank you for this unique experience, thank you to everyone in the team.”
