Nikola Tsolov is the second driver this weekend to be barred from competing in the round of the FIA Formula 3 Championship, after breaching the FIA Sporting Regulations.
Alpine Junior Tsolov joins Martinius Stenshorne in breaching article 10.4 of the 2024 F3 sporting regulations which clearly states that “No driver entered in the Championship may carry out any type of activity on any track with any type of single-seater car that was designed and/or built to achieve a power-to-weight ratio less than 2.0 kg/bhp.”
In addition, point ‘e’ of article 10.4 states “Genuine participation to a Standalone event needs to be explicitly approved by the FIA and Promoter in writing.”
Stenshorne was found to be in breach of this having failed to inform the necessary parties of his outing in the Silverstone round of the British GB3 series and thus has been barred from competing at the Northamptonshire circuit when FIA F3 races there in the summer.
Tsolov is guilty of similar action after competing at Spa in the Eurocup-3 season opener on April 19 and 20.
The 17-year-old Bulgarian took part with the Spanish outfit GRS but was reportedly “not aware of the requirements of Article 10.4 and his participation in the Eurocup-3 Series, of which he is planning to participate in three more Eurocup-3 Series Races this year, was organized by his management team three days before the event.”
A client of Fernando Alonso’s A14 Management programme, Tsolov and his management team “failed to request written authorization for the driver to take part in the Eurocup-3 Series, as requested in Article 10.4 of the Sporting Regulations.”
This has resulted in him being prohibited from competing in his ART Grand Prix machine when FIA F3 heads to Belgium later in the year.
Red Bull Junior and Prema FIA F3 rookie Arvin Lindblad has also received a €20,000 fine, with €10,000 of the penalty suspended due to his participation in the two-day GB3 Silverstone test on April 25 and 26 with Fortec Motorsport.
The stewards ruling noted that Lindblad “explained that his management team organized the test session at Silverstone and there was a miscommunication with his team. The Team Representative [from Prema] explained that he was unaware of the Driver’s participation in the GB3 test in Silverstone until they received the summons from the Stewards.”
Thus, it has been considered an “administrative error” and the suspended €10,000 proportion of the fine will only be activated if a similar breach of the regulations occurs again.
Lindblad currently lies fifth in the FIA F3 standings on 23 points whilst Tsolov is 16th with seven points.
