By graduating to Racing Bulls in 2026, Britain’s Arvid Lindblad has delivered on his personal childhood imaginative and prescient that he would one way or the other make it to System 1. Talking completely to Motorsport.com, he tells all about his ambition, his Swedish-Indian household heritage and a promise he made to Lando Norris.
Tuesday’s Racing Bulls announcement confirmed 18-year-old Lindblad will graduate to an F1 race seat in 2026, changing the Pink Bull Racing-bound Isack Hadjar. The Surrey-born teen would be the fifth British racer on the 2026 grid and the twentieth Pink Bull junior driver to make it to F1, having been fast-tracked by way of the single-seater ladder since he joined in 2021 as a karting phenom.
Life has moved rapidly for Lindblad, however making all of it the best way to System 1 was by no means only a distant dream. Regardless of the chances, it was a concrete ambition that he was one way or the other satisfied he would obtain from a really early age. “It has been my dream to be in F1 since I began this journey after I was 5, so having that come true may be very particular,” Lindblad tells Motorsport.com in his first interview as an F1 driver.
Learn Additionally:
“I do not come from a motorsport background. It was actually a ardour that I drove myself. Once I was three, my dad put me on a motocross bike for the primary time as a result of he’d completed a tiny bit when he was youthful. That did not final very lengthy, because it was a bit an excessive amount of for my mum. However then I went karting for the primary time after I was 5, and I simply liked it immediately.
“After the primary time, I already knew it was one thing I wished to do. My earliest racing recollections are from after I was 4, after I sat down and watched F1 with my dad. And I bear in mind asking, ‘How do I get there sooner or later? Is it potential? What do you need to do?’
“I do not actually know why — perhaps I used to be a bit naive — however I simply had this interior perception that I would be there. Not in an conceited approach; it was extra like I knew I wished to be in F1 and I used to be going to do something to make that occur. From the second I began, I by no means envisioned a future the place I wasn’t. I at all times believed that I might be in F1.”
Photograph by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Photographs through Getty Photographs
Lindblad additionally holds Swedish nationality by way of his father and has Indian roots by way of his maternal aspect of the household, two sides of his heritage he connects strongly with. “My paternal grandparents nonetheless reside in Sweden, so I go to them as typically as I can,” he says. “My mum’s dad and mom lived within the UK, and so they held on to their conventional Indian roots and tradition. I’ve at all times loved consuming my grandma’s superb Indian meals. I went to India for the primary time final 12 months, and I used to be actually engrossed within the Indian tradition.
“Once I take a look at my dad and mom, the most important factor I’ve realized from them is that I am very lucky to be born right into a household the place I’ve the chance to be a racing driver. As a result of sadly, with the best way the game is, it is not a possibility that everybody has. My dad comes from a small village in Smaland and really humble beginnings. He had a job when he was 11, cleansing bogs and dealing a paper route. He actually labored onerous his entire life to create the alternatives that I’ve, and I’ve huge respect for him.
“The identical goes for my mum. My grandparents had been concerned within the Partition; they lived in part of India that turned Pakistan, and so they misplaced all the things. They needed to work extraordinarily onerous. They ended up shifting to the UK to develop into medical doctors. There is a portrait of my grandmother in a museum as a result of she labored as a GP till she was 82. She solely retired a few years in the past.
“I am very proud that I come from a household that needed to work for the alternatives they created. And I am very lucky that I am not fairly in that place, however I nonetheless attempt to be humble and right down to earth. The racing is one thing between me and my dad. Schooling is essential to my mum, so the concept of me lacking a bit of college was very troublesome for her at first. She was saying to my dad: ‘If he does not have what it takes, can we please cease? As a result of it is costly and we have to do different issues.’ However I used to be at all times working onerous and driving fairly nicely, so it was onerous to surrender!”
Arvid Lindblad was a two-time finalist of the Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Younger Driver of the Yr award
Photograph by: Motorsport Photographs
It seems Lindblad did present glimpses of “the best stuff” in karting, profitable the LGM Collection and the British Championship within the IAME Cadet sequence in 2017. It was the signal to take his profession to the European scene, resulting in titles and a group of top-three finishes in OK-J and OK at each European and world championship stage, together with profitable the inaugural 2020 Champions of the Future occasion in OK-J, and the WSK Euro Collection and Last Cup the next 12 months – succeeding Andrea Kimi Antonelli within the former.
It was in 2021 that the then 14-year-old had a short encounter with Norris, when the McLaren driver launched his personal karting chassis on the similar observe Lindblad was driving. “I advised my buddy: ‘I believe I am going as much as Lando.’ And he was like: ‘Oh no, you do not have the center.’ I did not actually know what I used to be going to say, and the very first thing that got here out was: ‘I would like you to recollect me. I’ll see you in 5 years.’ I would gotten a little bit of inspiration from the Lewis Hamilton–Ron Dennis story, saying, ‘I’ll drive one in all your automobiles sooner or later.’
“I believe he was shocked a bit and stated one thing like: ‘Oh, that is good to consider it.’ I am positive there are many folks that say these sorts of issues, so it did not actually imply something on the time. However like I stated, I had this perception I might make it to F1. I had it after I stated that to Lando, and I’ve that very same form of perception at the moment. It is a comic story to look again on, as a result of it should develop into true. It will likely be 5 years.”
Lindblad is mentored by System E champion Oliver Rowland.
Photograph by: Chris Walker
By that point, Lindblad’s profession had already shifted into the next gear after his father Stefan obtained a name from an unknown quantity when the Lindblads had been out testing in Portugal. “We had been at breakfast within the lodge when the cellphone began ringing,” he recounts. “I do not bear in mind the quantity, however on the backside it stated ‘Graz, Austria’. My dad had a little bit of a skip in his step, and he stated Helmut Marko wished to satisfy us. I used to be excited to satisfy the person who had put world champions like Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen in F1.
“It is humorous as a result of I hear and browse issues, however that is not what I skilled. I’ve at all times had a very good relationship with Dr Marko. We have at all times been very trustworthy with one another. He does not actually like excuses. I do not actually wish to make excuses. We have at all times been very open, which has helped me develop. I am grateful for the chance, however I additionally should thank your entire Pink Bull Junior Programme. Rocky [Guillaume Roquelin] has been very concerned, and there is a entire workforce behind it.”
Very like Mercedes rookie Antonelli, who’s 12 months his senior, issues began shifting at breakneck pace as soon as Lindblad switched to racing automobiles in direction of the top of 2022. He took third in his first full season of Italian F4 in 2023 and received the distinguished Macau Grand Prix, which set him on a path to F3 and F2. However crucially, it additionally satisfied Marko and Pink Bull that Lindblad might be the following inheritor in line after Hadjar, making ready him for F1 with personal testing and simulator work.
So, how prepared does Lindblad really feel for his largest problem but? “Being trustworthy, I believe I am not 100% prepared, however that is regular,” he acknowledges. “I’ve progressed by way of the ranks in a short time, so I am used to being within the place the place I am form of thrown within the deep finish and should discover a solution to determine it out. I’ve full confidence in myself that I will discover a approach.”
Lindblad made his F1 testing debut with the AlphaTauri AT04 in Imola. “Being trustworthy, I believe I am not 100% prepared, however that is regular.”
The unknowns surrounding the massive 2026 regulation adjustments make predictions not possible. However Lindblad is eager to develop into the very best model of himself. When requested what is going to make 2026 a hit, he replies: “What is going on to make 2026 an excellent 12 months is that by working onerous and studying so much, I’ll come out a significantly better driver than I went in.
“It’s a clear slate for everybody with the brand new automobiles, so you could possibly say it is a bonus to come back in now. However there are two sides to the coin. F1 shall be very totally different to what now we have now, so I nonetheless suppose the skilled guys can have a bonus. There’s so much to be taught, and I want to simply give attention to that and getting the very best out of myself.”
In 2026 Lindblad shall be thrown in on the deep finish as soon as extra, and he’ll nonetheless have all the things to show. However he has additionally already confirmed one factor to himself: he has made it to System 1, similar to he at all times envisioned.
Learn Additionally:
We would like your opinion!
What would you wish to see on Motorsport.com?
– The Motorsport.com Crew
