- Lindblad opens up on whirlwind F1 debut, an enforced break and a new hobby.
- Three races in, Racing Bulls teenager has outqualified a four-time world champion.
- Skateboarding, DTS and Silverstone: what is next for Britain’s youngest-ever F1 driver.
Arvid Lindblad was meant to be racing in Saudi Arabia this weekend. Instead, the 18-year-old is on a skateboard somewhere, trying to land a kickflip.
Both the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grand Prix had been cancelled due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. This has given the Racing Bulls rookie an unplanned five-week break after just three races of his debut Formula 1 season.
In an exclusive interview with BBC Newsbeat, the youngest British driver in F1 history spoke about his early results, a new hobby and the Netflix moment he has been dreaming about since he was ten.
Lindblad: “I don’t think it’s fully sunk in”
Lindblad does not carry himself like someone who has just made history. He is easy to talk to. He speaks carefully.
And he is still processing the fact that the thing he spent his whole life chasing has actually arrived.
“I don’t think it’s fully sunk in,” he told BBC Newsbeat. “This is something I’ve been working towards my whole life. So the fact it’s come true is extremely special, extremely cool.”
He signed for Racing Bulls in December 2025, replacing the promoted Isack Hadjar and joining Liam Lawson on the grid.
The move made him the fourth-youngest driver in F1 history. It also made him the youngest Briton ever to compete in the championship, surpassing Oliver Bearman.
His journey to that seat has been rapid by any measure. He joined the Red Bull Junior Team as a karting prodigy in 2021.
At 16, he became the youngest-ever winner in Formula 3. At 17, he did the same in Formula 2.
A single season with Campos Racing in 2025 brought three wins, five podiums and free practice outings for Red Bull at Silverstone, Mexico City and Abu Dhabi. Then came the call that changed everything.
Points on debut, lessons in the races that followed
The 2026 season opened in Melbourne, and Lindblad arrived with something to prove. Both Racing Bulls qualified inside the top ten.
Lindblad pushed hard in the early laps, ran near the front of the midfield and eventually crossed the line eighth. It made him the third-youngest points scorer in F1 history, behind only Kimi Antonelli and Verstappen.
China was harder. A safety car upset the team’s strategy, and he finished 12th.
The sprint format and the unfamiliarity of the Shanghai circuit made it a different kind of weekend. He acknowledged as much afterwards, pointing to clear lessons from the race.
Japan offered both the best and the most difficult moments of his short career. He had never driven Suzuka before arriving for race weekend.
He lost most of the second practice to a gearbox problem. And yet, when qualifying arrived, he produced a lap quick enough to knock Verstappen out of Q2.
A four-time world champion was sent home early by a teenager racing in only his third Grand Prix. He reached Q3 for the second time in three races.
The race did not reward him, though. A poorly timed safety car dropped him from a points-scoring position to 14th, and he could not find the pace to recover.
But Lindblad described Suzuka as the circuit he had most looked forward to all year, calling the low-fuel qualifying runs there particularly special.
Making the most of an enforced break
The removal of the Middle East rounds from the calendar handed Lindblad something he is not used to: time. He has filled it with friends, reflection and improbably, skating.
“I can ride on the board very comfortably now, I can go on ramps, I can’t go all the way up, but I am pretty decent,” he said. His goal for the year is modest but specific.
“I said by the end of the year, if I could learn how to do a kickflip, that would be pretty cool.”
But the break has only made him more eager for Miami, the next race on the calendar.
“What I’m most looking forward to is getting back into the car in Miami,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed the break but racing is my passion. It’s probably what makes me happiest.”
There was one other thing he brought up, something that caught the attention of anyone who forgets just how young he is.
Drive to Survive, the Netflix documentary series that helped turn F1 into a global cultural moment, launched in 2018. Lindblad was ten years old at the time, just beginning his karting journey, and he has watched it ever since.
“Drive to Survive started when I was 10, when I was in the beginning of my karting journey,” he told BBC Newsbeat. “So I’ve watched loads of those clips, and to be able to sit in that chair will be really cool at some point.”
The road ahead for Lindblad
Three races in, Lindblad has four points and sits 11th in the drivers’ standings.
He has matched Lawson closely in qualifying across each of the opening rounds, which tells its own story about his pace relative to a more experienced teammate.
Before the season began, he told Motorsport.com that success in 2026 would mean working hard, learning as much as possible and arriving at the end of the year as a better driver than the one who started it.
By that measure, he is already on course.
There is also Silverstone to look forward to. Lindblad made his first F1 free practice appearance at the British Grand Prix in 2025.
He returns this season as a full-time race entry, and the prospect clearly excites him.
The opening chapter of his F1 career has not always gone smoothly. Safety cars have cost him, new circuits have tested him, and more cars has come past him than he would like.
But he has scored points on debut, outqualified a champion and spoken about it all with a composure that feels earned rather than performed.
In his spare time, he is learning to skateboard. He cannot quite land the kickflip yet. But he is working on it.
