From Sandown Park to Silverstone FP1 debut – Who is Red Bull Junior Arvid Lindblad?

There will be a new name on the timing screens for Free Practice 1 at Silverstone this weekend, as Red Bull Junior Arvid Lindblad jumps into Yuki Tsunoda’s RB21 during the one-hour session.

The 17-year-old has made plenty of waves in junior formula racing over the last couple of years, earning rave reviews from many fans and pundits. But most importantly, Lindblad has impressed members of the Red Bull hierarchy, including Christian Horner and Helmut Marko.

After several Testing of Previous Car (TPC) runs this year, he now has a chance to drive next to Max Verstappen on home soil. Here is everything you need to know about the young British talent…

Motorsport family and karting

Born to a Swedish father, an Indian mother, and into a motorsport-loving family, Lindblad grew up in Surrey, England, but he started on two wheels rather than four. Lindblad’s father had been a motocross rider and at three-years-old, bought his son a bike.

But with his mother wanting him to have a good life balance, ruling that school was a non-negotiable and Lindblad preferring four-wheel racing, they switched to karting at five with his first karting venture at Surrey’s Daytona Sandown Park circuit.

He won several competitions both in the UK and in Europe, including the 2018 British Karting Championship, which he claimed driving for Oliver Rowland Motorsport. The current Formula E driver and Lindblad met when he was seven and, since then, the former Renault and Williams Development Driver has served as a mentor.

Lindblad’s most successful year in karting came in 2021, when he joined the likes of Charles Leclerc and Kimi Antonelli in winning the WSK Euro Series, before coming out on top of the WSK Final Cup. This was in his first year as part of the Red Bull Junior programme, having signed to them at the 2020 Portuguese Grand Prix, aged just 13.

Switch to single-seaters

The Briton’s first full single-seater season started with the 2023 Italian F4 Championship where, helped by his six victories, he finished third in the standings.

Lindblad also finished fourth in the Euro 4 Championship and fifth in Formula 4 UAE, and later that year, he won the F4 race around the famous streets of Macau.

In 2024, Lindblad stepped up to Formula 3 with PREMA Racing, becoming the youngest winner in the championship’s history at 16-years-old when he won the Bahrain Sprint Race on his debut. He finished the year with four victories, which included a historic double at Silverstone – where he became the first driver ever to win every race on a single F3 weekend.

Lindblad went into the final round at Monza as the only rookie in with a chance of claiming the title, before eventually finishing fourth in the standings.

Currently, Lindblad is in the midst of his debut Formula 2 season with Campos Racing, and so far, the Red Bull talent has shone. Until his retirement at Round 7’s Sprint Race in Austria, the rookie had finished every race in the top 10.

He has also won two races – the Jeddah Sprint and the Barcelona Feature – and is currently sixth in the standings with 79 points, trailing leader Richard Verschoor by 35 points with half the season remaining.

How good is Lindblad?

Lindblad’s speed is clear, but his work ethic and ability to adapt has been eye-catching. Jumping up from F4 to F3 is not easy, but his adaptability impressed many, especially PREMA Team Principal Rene Rosin, who said after Silverstone last year he had not expected it.

That trend has continued in F2, and current Team Principal Adrián Campos Jr explained in Austria why he thinks this is the case.

“Arvid is a very strong driver,” said Campos Jr. “When you speak with him you don’t notice he is 17-years-old. That’s his strongest point, he is really mature. It’s like speaking with an old guy who has a 17-year-old body.”

That maturity has also been acknowledged by the FIA World Motor Sport Council, who granted Lindblad a Super license before his 18th birthday – as they did for Mercedes' Antonelli last year. As the FIA International Sporting Code states: “At the sole discretion of the FIA, a driver judged to have recently and consistently demonstrated outstanding ability and maturity in single-seater formula car competition may be granted a Super Licence at the age of 17-years-old.”

This marks what has been a rapid rise for Lindblad, as in two years he has gone from F4 to the pinnacle of the sport. If he continues to perform just as he has throughout his career, this run out at Silverstone might not be the only time we see his name on the F1 timing screens.