How Lindblad has shown that he's found his feet in F1

In their post-Helmut Marko world, the pressure on younger drivers at Racing Bulls appears to have been lifted somewhat. That’s not to say that they can take their foot off the gas by any means; they still have to perform to earn their keep, but expectations appear to be more reasonable. So far, Arvid Lindblad has thrived in a lower-key environment to quietly learn his craft in Formula 1.

No one really bats an eyelid at an 18-year-old being thrust into F1 these days. It seemed that Max Verstappen and Lance Stroll were barely out of the womb when they landed in the championship, ditto Kimi Antonelli. By comparison, Lindblad seems positively ancient…

Born in Surrey to a Swedish father and a mother with Indian heritage, Lindblad rocketed through the junior categories on the way to F1: a year and a bit in Italian F4, in which he finished third in 2023, prior to single seasons in F3 (fourth with four wins), then F2 (sixth with three wins). Although there’s a conspicuous lack of a title challenge in the upper levels of the junior ranks, barring his saunter to victory in last year’s Formula Regional Oceania Championship, those who have beaten Lindblad in the lower levels have often found themselves outclassed by him further up the ladder.  

Take former Red Bull junior Kacper Sztuka, for instance. The Pole beat Lindblad by 51.5 points in Italian F4 in 2023. When the two made the step to F3 together, Lindblad was in contention for the title until a late-season collapse in form suppressed his charge, while Sztuka managed only six points all year. Sure, the two plied their trade for different teams – Lindblad with Prema Racing, Sztuka with MP Motorsport – but that doesn’t account for the gaping 107-point chasm.

It’s Lindblad’s adaptability that has been increasingly valuable as he has climbed the ladder. On stepping up to F2, he again acquitted himself well and demonstrated an impressive turn of pace and consistency, but it was his select F1 outings for Red Bull in last year’s practice sessions that convinced Alan Permane and Peter Bayer to take a punt. On the face of it, finishing a tenth of a second ahead of Yuki Tsunoda in practice in Mexico might have helped his cause. In truth, Lindblad’s maturity and feedback proved to be a real selling point.

And that’s carried on into F1. Rookie drivers generally have three boxes to tick in their first year: cram as much knowledge into their grey matter as humanly possible; try to match their team-mate; and avoid racking up excessive repair bills. It’s inevitable that youthful exuberance will tip a star-in-the-making over the limit, and that’s acceptable – if they observe those limits as they slide past them. 

Rookie season got off to a good start with four points scored in Melbourne

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Lindblad has walked the line on all three points thus far, with the only notable blot in his copybook emerging in a Suzuka tyre test crash. In his defence, it had been a wet day and his Racing Bulls had indulged in a spot of aquaplaning.

“The biggest surprise for me has been how much of the job has been not just driving,” Lindblad says of his break into F1. “But at the same time, I kind of knew that there is that part of it. Honestly, I wouldn’t say there’s been anything that’s massively taken me aback. I felt reasonably prepared for the step, from the preparation that the team gave me, but also Red Bull through the programme and stuff. So, I think it’s all been quite manageable.”

One significant asset in Lindblad’s corner over the past few years has been the presence of Formula E champion Ollie Rowland, on hand at most races (when there are no clashes) to dispense his own no-nonsense words of wisdom to Lindblad in his soft-spoken Barnsley brogue.

“You can see he’s aiming high, aiming for the top. He’s self-critical, which is, again I find, a good and refreshing thing in drivers. The first place he looks is himself to find performance” Alan Permane 

Rowland, of course, has been through it all in motorsport: the scrap to get recognised at the top levels against better-funded drivers; brief spells in the Renault and Williams academies; and the eventual graduation to a factory drive with Nissan in FE. He knows where the pitfalls are, and will be at liberty to guide Lindblad around them.

Crucially, Lindblad has impressed Racing Bulls team principal Permane, who has worked with a considerable fleet of drivers, from the greats (Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen spring to mind) to the merely very good throughout his 37 years working in F1.  

“It’s been good – he started off at a high level, of course,” says Permane of the youngster. “I think he’s been very smart in the people he has around him off track. He has Ollie Rowland looking after him, or being a mentor, or a sounding board, or whatever you want to call it. He’s a really good asset to have.  

Permane, who’s worked with numerous F1 greats, rates his 18-year-old driver highly

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“He’s quite demanding, Arvid, which I think is good as well. He wants everything immediately. If anything, we have to sort of calm him down and keep him there. You can see he’s aiming high, aiming for the top. He’s self-critical, which is, again I find, a good and refreshing thing in drivers. The first place he looks is himself to find performance. So, no issues with Arvid, he’s doing a very good job.”

Points on his F1 debut was an excellent start. It was evident from testing that Racing Bulls had, once more, produced a benign-handling car and a comfortable ride for a rookie driver, something that gave Lindblad great confidence in Melbourne. On breaking into Q3, he couldn’t quite get the final run together and was outqualified by team-mate Liam Lawson, but the Kiwi hit trouble with his getaway off the line to begin Lindblad’s rapid ascent on the opening lap.

Cast your mind back to that day: Lindblad was in swashbuckling form in that first lap and diced past the slow-starting Antonelli and Lando Norris to break into the top four, although Lewis Hamilton soon demonstrated that experience won out versus rookie endeavour.

Still, eighth place at the end was impressive, especially after holding off Gabriel Bortoleto for the final 18 laps to get Racing Bulls off the mark. Permane certainly thought so: “You have to have the speed; it’s no good being great on feedback and being brilliant with the media if you haven’t got the pace. So I think the pace is there. I think we saw that in Melbourne. We certainly saw that in that lap, in that Q3 lap. So that’s absolutely impressed me.”

The Chinese GP was in comparison a trying weekend after being bumped out of Q2 (and again outqualified by Lawson) ahead of a long stint on the hard tyre. An early safety car was a significant problem, and Lindblad was unable to benefit from the cheap pitstop.

Other frustrations, largely out of his control, followed. Japan promised much but, again, the safety car intervened at an inopportune moment; Lindblad had qualified 10th and had been keeping Isack Hadjar’s Red Bull in his rear-view mirrors, but was called in four laps before the emergence of the safety car when Ollie Bearman sustained a high-speed shunt when trying to avoid Franco Colapinto’s glacial Alpine. Lawson, meanwhile, got the benefit of the safety car to finish ninth, while Lindblad was stranded in 14th place.

Lindblad’s Silverstone F3 sprint-feature double in 2024 was a rare feat

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Another 14th arrived in Miami after falling out in Q1, before poor luck meant Lindblad missed the entire run-time of the Canadian Grand Prix with a clutch failure on the grid. The silver lining in Montreal was the single point that Lindblad had scored with eighth in the sprint, and he was due to start ninth on the Sunday before the car failed to engage first gear.  

But the commitments to wild strategy gambles worked in Monaco, helped by his interfering with Williams’s attempt to borrow the hold-up tactics seen in 2025. Alex Albon tried to keep the Racing Bulls driver in check, but deployment issues eventually opened the door for Lindblad to make a pass with a much speedier run out of Virage Antony Noghes.  

Now in front of the Williams pair, Lindblad needed a miracle to buy himself a free pitstop; the crashes of Lance Stroll and Charles Leclerc duly provided it in the form of a red flag. Lindblad was eighth, and could change his tyres free of charge, which later became sixth when penalties were applied. Back-to-back points finishes in Barcelona and Austria, finishing each race directly behind his team-mate in evenly-matched contests, has kept up his momentum heading to Silverstone. 

He’s hit the high notes without – so far – experiencing the big lows that a rookie usually experiences, for example Antonelli’s mid-season loss of form last year

So, how will the rookie get on at his first home race in F1? The signs look positive: as Lindblad took both Silverstone victories during his F3 campaign – the sprint-feature double is rare, given the reversed-grid nature of the Saturday race – and scored points in the F2 feature last year. It helps that his car appeared stable at circuits like Melbourne, which should provide the platform to shine in front of his home crowd.  

Whatever the outcome, Lindblad has demonstrated the work ethic and natural pace characteristic of an F1 driver with a bright future. He’s hit the high notes without – so far – experiencing the big lows that a rookie usually experiences, for example Antonelli’s mid-season loss of form last year.

Now that he’s getting more comfortable, however, he’ll have to start showing progress. Lawson remains a strong benchmark, having recovered from the bruising nature of his demotion from Red Bull last year, and regularly beating him will be Lindblad’s main target for the second half of the year.  And if Permane’s assessment is correct, there’ll be nobody ladling on the pressure to do so quite like Lindblad himself; he knows that beating Lawson is a must if he’s to have a chance of becoming a future champion with Red Bull.

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Beating team-mate Lawson regularly will now be Lindblad’s main focus

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