Arvid Lindblad: ‘I told Lando Norris five years ago I’d be in F1 – it’s always been my dream’
· Yahoo Sports
It was his early teenage years, arguably the most troublesome for any parent, when Arvid Lindblad’s mother, Anita, decided she’d had enough. Too much racing, too many school absences, too often catching up with maths homework at the side of a karting track. She told his father, Stefan, that as soon as her son’s racing results plateaued, he would be back in full-time education at RGS Guildford in Surrey. Only, that moment never came.
“She only told me this a few years ago, it’s quite a funny story now,” Lindblad says, with the wry smile of an 18-year-old who always truly believed he would end up in this position. “It was really something we all had to work on. It wasn’t always easy at home, but we tried to get the balance right.
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“It was only when I was 15 that my Mum became really supportive. But I’m very lucky – she fought for what she believed in: education. I’ve tried to mix both, which has helped me become who I am today.”
The 18-year-old is set to become the fourth-youngest F1 driver ever on Sunday (Getty Images)Where he is sat now is in one of the most coveted clubs in motorsport. When Lindblad makes his debut for Red Bull’s junior team, Racing Bulls, this weekend in Australia, he will become the fourth-youngest driver in Formula 1 history. And the youngest-ever Brit, pipping Ollie Bearman and Lando Norris.
“I’ve known in my head since 2021 that, if everything was perfect, with the rules and what ages you could race in each category, 2026 was the earliest I could be in F1,” he says. “It’s always been my dream and the fact it’s coming true is obviously very exciting.”
Lindblad is speaking to The Independent at Red Bull’s plush offices in Covent Garden, on a typically dreary February morning. Immediately his analytical outlook, his cognisance of the bigger picture, is evident as he suggests to his media officer that he sits in front of a television screen showing the RB logo for maximum marketing exposure. Given his team’s comical social media strategy, which last week included a ‘driving test’ with YouTube star Angry Ginge, an awareness of his surroundings is something he’ll have to get used to.
Lindblad’s ascension up the ranks has been extraordinary. Following a similar trajectory to Mercedes teenager Kimi Antonelli, the Surrey teen only made his F2 debut last year. And results were mixed: for a glorious race victory at Barcelona came an erratic crash at Monza. In the end, he only finished sixth. But the wheels beyond junior formula were already long in motion.
In fact, Lindblad will tell you that since he was four years of age – that’s 2011, if you fancy feeling old – there’s simply been one dream and one dream only. He says: “I remember vividly the F1 was on TV and I sat down next to my Dad and asked: ‘How do you get there? Could I be there one day?’
“Being honest, I don’t know if it was false hope, but I always believed from the beginning that I could make it.”
Karting dominance is the early indicator. Raised in Surrey, weekends spent with grandparents in Bolton resulted in regular visits to Hooton Park Circuit in Birkenhead, where he learned his trade. Soon, Lindblad’s excellence expanded to a European stage and, aged 13, he caught the eye of Helmut Marko, Red Bull’s former belligerent academy chief, who called his father while in Portimao for the World Karting Championships to invite his son to join Red Bull’s prestigious junior programme.
A year later, unperturbed after being diagnosed with coeliac disease (a digestive condition triggered by gluten), Lindblad did not lack an ounce of self-esteem when he strutted up to McLaren’s Norris, at the Adria Karting Raceway in Italy, with a far-fetched promise which has now gone viral.
“Lando, I want you to remember me,” the 14-year-old said. “I will see you in five years.” Norris replies: “Yeah? Alright!”
It is a scene which could be straight out of a movie: this year, Lindblad joins the F1 grid with Norris now the reigning world champion. Talk about full circle.
“I don’t what you’d call it, manifestation maybe?!” Lindblad chuckles now. “It’s so cool that it’s come true… Lando has been very friendly in the few times I’ve met him since and he sent me a message after the [seat] announcement.”
Yet to paint a picture of the smoothest of journeys is to ignore the realities of being a talented child regularly absent from school. The basics of making and maintaining friendships with his classmates, for instance? Tricky.
“It’s an interesting question – and not something I often get asked about,” he says. “Being totally honest, it wasn’t the easiest on a social side at school. I’m not really in contact with my peers from class anymore. It’s funny, I think they’d remember me when I was 12 just constantly missing school. Racing wasn’t local, it was all across Europe.
“I was home-schooled from about 15. It wasn’t at all easy with friends, but it was a sacrifice I was always willing to make.”
Lindblad is still deciding whether to sit his A-Level exams in Maths and Chemistry (Getty Images)Lindblad’s educational juggling act, quite commendably, continues to this day. Having got nines and sevens in his GCSEs (A* and A, for us old folk), he is yet to rule out finishing his A-Levels in maths and chemistry. Amidst the chaos of a 24-race F1 season, it feels somewhat unfathomable. “I don’t know if I’ll take the exams…but if I do, I want at least an A,” he insists.
“I enjoy them, it’s important. I’m dyslexic, so I much prefer maths and science over writing subjects. RGS were very accommodating, but it was never easy to catch up.”
Despite his Mum being of Indian heritage and his Dad being Swedish, Lindblad races under the British flag; one of five Brits on the grid this year. “It’s a big part of why I’m in F1, because I’m British,” he says. “I was exposed to the British karting scene, which is a really high level. I’m very proud to be British.”
Lindblad is partnering Liam Lawson (left) at Red Bull's junior team this season (Getty Images)Despite his talents, Lindblad’s parents were never the pushy type often seen in junior racing. Speaking to The Independent last summer, his mother Anita was keen to emphasise that this has always purely been Arvid’s dream. “Mum didn’t come to races often,” Lindblad concurs. “And Dad always left me to it. I think he knew if he pushed it too much, I’d lose some of the internal passion.”
And that driving force – his eagerness to push the boundaries, on and off the racetrack – leads him to Albert Park in Melbourne this weekend. Partnering Liam Lawson this year, Isack Hadjar’s terrific debut campaign in 2025 has shown Lindblad the potential path ahead. In a year, it’s very possible that he could be lining up alongside the sport’s standout driver in Max Verstappen. Red Bull don’t wilt when it comes to promoting young guns.
“It’s very impressive what Isack has done,” Lindblad says. “But I’m very much focused on myself and my performance now. We’ll see what happens.” And it’s only at the end of our 20-minute chat that, for the first time, he is reluctant to actually verbalise his lifelong goal; the one they all have, though one which perhaps sounds incongruous as the only rookie on the grid this year.
After a stutter and a shift, he states: “I do want to become… no, that sounds wrong. I’m working towards becoming a Formula 1 world champion one day, that’s for sure.”