Formula 2: The pole in Austria was won by Noel Leon.

      On the account of Nikola Tsolov, the Bulgarian driver for Campos Racing, a debutant in Formula 2 and a participant in the Red Bull youth program, there are already three victories this season, and it is quite logical that he is already being predicted to make a swift transition to Formula 1. Whether this is true or not will be shown by the future, but after five rounds, he is in second place in the individual standings, trailing the leader, Gabriele Mini, by just 6 points.

      Since F2 awards additional bonus points for pole position, it could be assumed that at the Red Bull Ring, Nikola would try to stand out already on Friday, especially since he has not yet won any qualifying sessions. Moreover, it was important for him to show everything he is capable of in Austria in front of the entire management of Red Bull.

      Qualifying promised to be intense in every sense, not just due to the heated emotions: the air temperature exceeded 30 degrees by a couple of degrees, and the asphalt surface warmed up to 50.

      The first to approach the necessary speed levels was Alex Dunn, who completed a lap in 1:16.238, but his time was soon surpassed by Noël Leon. Tsolov, in his first attempt, was only slightly behind his Campos teammate by just 0.015 seconds, while Mini climbed to third place, although it was clear that these were still "test" results, and the pace would gradually increase.

      Rafael Kamara, the fast Brazilian racing for Ivicta Racing, overtook all three and nearly broke the 1 minute 16 seconds barrier – he was just 52 thousandths short. With such results, the drivers returned to the pits for fresh sets of tires, and the decisive push for pole position was ahead.

      What Kamara could not achieve, Leon did: he was the first to return to the track and improved the Brazilian's result by more than half a second, setting the bar at an impressive 1:15.544. It was clear that the competitors would not let this go unchallenged, and soon all the others hit the track.

      By the way, last year's pole time was even better – Leonardo Fornaroli, who then raced for Invicta Racing, won the qualifying session with a time of 1:15.229.

      In his decisive attempt, Alex Dunn was very fast at the beginning of the lap but lost some speed in the second and third sectors, which did not prevent him from climbing to second place. Still, no one was able to reach the result shown by Noël Leon, although everyone tried. The 21-year-old Mexican, who has already won a couple of races, now added pole position to his achievements.

      Nikola Tsolov remained in third place, which is also good, as overtaking is quite possible on the Austrian track. But next to his car in Red Bull colors on the second row will be the pink Dallara of Gabriele Mini, the leader of the youth series and the main rival of the Bulgarian Campos driver, meaning that on Sunday we will see a principled battle for every position.

      The Saturday sprint will be started from pole by Sebastián Montoya, who showed the tenth result today – let’s remember that in youth series a partially reversed starting order is applied.

      Colton Herta still cannot stand out: he was only 20th in qualifying. In the individual standings, he is currently in 13th place, with just over four times fewer points than the leader. If we recall that the American driver moved to Formula 2 not only to better study European tracks but also for a super license, there is a risk that with such results, this part of the plan will remain unfulfilled.

      Results are being prepared…