‘The little me dreamed of this’ – Arvid Lindblad reflects on the milestone moments of his journey to F1 in pictures

The first 2026 pre-season check in Bahrain is sort of at its midway level when Arvid Lindblad cheerfully greets me in the Racing Bulls hospitality forward of our allotted interview time, the rookie sitting out the morning observe session whereas group mate Liam Lawson is on driving obligation.

Lindblad is blissful to chat earlier than he returns to the automotive for the afternoon phase – however it’s clear that getting again behind the wheel isn’t removed from his thoughts, as the Briton suggests we take a desk the place a close-by display screen can hold us up to date with the motion on the circuit.

Testing marks the newest step in Lindblad’s preparations for his debut season in Formula 1 – and whereas the teenager is evidently wanting forward to this upcoming milestone, the focus of our interview is to solid an eye fixed again on the journey that led him to this level, making ready to develop into the fourth-youngest F1 racer in history.

To assist with this journey down reminiscence lane, I’ve arrived at our interview armed with pictures charting some notably important levels from Lindblad’s previous – main him to humbly ask, “Photos of me?” once we inform him of the plan. And with that, we press rewind and head proper again to the starting of the latest Formula 1 driver’s profession…

‘I knew it was what I wanted to do’

In the strategy to January’s Barcelona Shakedown (extra on which later), Lindblad fittingly posted his personal montage of pictures on social media spanning his path to the prime echelon – and so we begin with the very first snapshot from that submit, displaying the now teenager sat in a toy automotive as a small youngster.

As he appears at this picture, Lindblad reflects on the place that curiosity in motorsport was shaped at such a younger age, explaining: “It got here from my paternal aspect of the household. My grandad’s an avid motorsport fan – he’ll watch something with wheels and an engine, and he handed that keenness down to my dad.

“My dad did a little bit of motocross for a few 12 months or so, and sadly had to cease after not very lengthy, however that kind of ardour was handed down to him and that handed on to me.

“When I was three, my dad got me a motocross bike for the first time – it was a bit too much for my mum, so it didn’t last very long. When I was five I went karting for the first time, and that’s kind of how it all started.”

Lindblad goes on to recall a transparent reminiscence of what would maybe show to be a vital second in his future profession, one which planted the seed of a dream when he was nonetheless only some years previous.

“I remember very well when I was about four, before I’d started karting, I saw my dad sitting on the sofa watching some TV and the F1 was on,” he recollects. “I got here and sat down subsequent to him, and I used to be seeing the automobiles and I used to be kind of questioning.

“I requested him, ‘Is it possible for me to get there? How does it work? Could I race there one day?’, and it was actually from that second that I knew that it was what I needed to do, so I’ve kind of actually pushed the racing my complete profession, my complete journey.

“It’s really come from me – it was always my passion and something I wanted to do.”

While the drive evidently got here from him, Lindblad credit his father, Stefan, for being “really there” for him as he pursued karting, including: “He was with me every step of the journey and he’d come to almost all the races, and it was something we really did together.”

The teenager admits that his early need to enter motorsport was “a little bit more difficult” for his mum, Anita: “Education was essential to her and generally the thought of lacking a bit of faculty or the tutorial [side] not being the first precedence was not the best for her to settle for, however we labored on it and we bought the steadiness proper.

“Looking back on it, I think it was also good that she pushed back – I remember very well, there were times where I was doing my homework at the racetrack, all that kind of stuff.”

Climbing the ranks with assist from a racing driver

Next, we glance again at one other image from Lindblad’s social media archives. “I remember this photo very well,” he declares about this shot, which exhibits the smiling Briton as a toddler seated in the cockpit of an F2 racing automotive, set to be pushed by Oliver Rowland – who poses alongside – on the 2017 British Grand Prix weekend.

It may appear to be a typical snapshot of a younger racing fan assembly one of their idols, however for Lindblad the {photograph} represents one other key issue in his journey to date, with Rowland having acted as a coach in the years since.

“I met Ollie in around 2015, when I was seven,” Lindblad explains. “The group that I used to be racing for had a hyperlink with one thing referred to as RSF [Racing Steps Foundation], which was in Britain and serving to drivers.

“My dad was at all times very targeted on driver coaches and wanting to assist me enhance, so he would ask the group if it’s potential if any of these drivers had a weekend off they usually needed a bit of additional pocket cash, simply to come and assist me out for a day with a bit of teaching and stuff.

“Ollie was at all times actually up for it, and that was how the relationship began. Every six months or so from after I was seven, we’d do a check day, then after I was 9 we began a karting group collectively the place I received the British Championship.

“We’ve stayed in contact very carefully all through, after I began racing in Europe and we have been speaking all the time, after which in F3 and F2 he was coming loads to the races. It was an enormous half thanks to him that I’ve been ready to make the steps and progress and be on the trajectory I’ve been on, as a result of he’s helped to give me recommendation from his expertise.

“It wasn’t that long ago that he was in F2 and he’s obviously racing now in Formula E, and to have that advice and knowledge of someone who’s recently done it really, really helped.”

The perception of others who’ve been there earlier than is one thing that Lindblad has clearly discovered helpful – and, when requested if another drivers all through his journey have been notably supportive, the 18-year-old singles out Red Bull stablemate Max Verstappen.

“I got to know Max a few years ago, and he’s always been very kind and very willing to offer advice whenever I’ve had any questions,” says Lindblad. “And it wasn’t only a quick reply – he actually tried to assist, and I believe that’s cool to see, particularly from somebody who’s achieved a lot in the sport.

“I think it’s very easy when you do so well and you’re in the limelight, sometimes you can forget or change a little bit, but the fact that he’s still so down to earth, still so kind and wanting to help, is very cool to see, and I think it’s really impressive.”

Learning by means of karting and the Red Bull Junior Team

The third picture on our journey down reminiscence lane is one other that Lindblad can clearly recall. Looking again at his karting years, the picture exhibits him profitable on debut at the opening spherical of the WSK Euro Series in 2021, the pleasure at his victory seen by means of his visor.

And as the branding of his helmet hints at, this second got here only a few months after one other pivotal milestone when Lindblad was signed to the Red Bull Junior Team.

The significance of each is obvious, as Lindblad explains: “Talking about my karting journey, it was large. For each racing driver, it truly is the place we study our craft. I spent rather more time in karting than I’ve in automobiles – I solely went to automobiles after I was 15, so I did nearly 10 years of karting and three to 4 years of automobiles.

“It’s the place you actually study every thing about driving, race craft, feeling the restrict. For positive, driving a automotive is a bit completely different, however all these fundamentals are large.

“On Red Bull, I joined the programme at the finish of 2020, and I used to be nonetheless fairly in the center of my karting journey. I’m massively grateful to them for the assist and the alternative they gave me to be part of the programme and likewise to be right here in Formula 1.

“Like Ollie, I wouldn’t have been able to make the steps and be on this trajectory without them. I really learned a lot through the ranks with them, and they’ve helped me become the driver I am today.”

The ‘very difficult step’ to F3

Claiming victory on debut would go on to develop into one thing of a theme for Lindblad, as our subsequent snapshot proves. After making the step to single-seaters in 2022 by means of Italian F4, the driver from Surrey in England progressed to Formula 3 in 2024 – the place he received his very first race for Prema Racing, triumphing in the Sakhir Sprint Race.

Lindblad has spoken previously of having had a rapid rise through the ranks, typically spending only a 12 months in every sequence earlier than shifting up to the subsequent class – so did that transfer to F3 really feel like a very massive step, or was it one thing he considered as one other rung in the ladder?

“No, it was a big step,” the teenager concedes. “The means the single-seater ladder is at the second, there are some classes which might be greater steps than others, and F4 to F3 was an enormous step.

“It’s a really tough step to make, particularly with just one 12 months of F4, and to give you the option to do nicely. I knew coming into the 12 months it was going to be extraordinarily tough, and there have been loads of nerves on my aspect about how issues would go, as a result of I knew it was essential however I additionally knew the weight to the problem.

“It was my second 12 months in automobiles and I used to be competing towards guys who’re in their fourth or fifth 12 months. I used to be 16 – the common [age on the] grid was 19 or 20. So I knew it was going to be very tough, and to win right here in Bahrain on my first race was a very nice reduction on that aspect, however once more, it was additionally an enormous half thanks to Red Bull.

“I did a lot of work with Prema but also with Red Bull over the winter to prepare for that year, and a big part thanks to Rocky [Guillaume ‘Rocky’ Rocquelin, Head of the Red Bull Driver Academy] as well. He was quite a big role in the team, and he really helped me to learn and be able to develop to make that step.”

After scoring a complete of 4 wins throughout that Formula 3 marketing campaign, Lindblad’s subsequent step shortly adopted as he progressed to F2 in 2025 with Campos Racing, the place he turned the youngest race winner in the class’s historical past. But alongside the three victories he would declare in that season, the 12 months additionally introduced with it one other key second on his route to F1…

A ‘very special moment’ with dwelling FP1 debut at Silverstone

The subsequent picture I current to Lindblad is a brief journey again to final summer season, the place – alongside his Formula 2 duties – the Briton made his F1 weekend debut by taking part in Free Practice 1 for the first time, doing so on dwelling turf at Silverstone with the Red Bull group.

As he appears at the picture – displaying him driving down the pit lane at the wheel of the RB21, forward of Verstappen – it’s clear how a lot it meant to Lindblad as I ask him about the feelings of the day, and the significance of getting the alternative in the United Kingdom the place a lot of his early racing profession happened.

“I was very nervous before getting in the car, but it was also good nerves,” he smiles. “It was a really particular second for me to give you the option to compete in my first official F1 session, to be doing it with Red Bull as nicely who’ve helped me a lot in my profession, and much more so to be doing it at dwelling at Silverstone.

“It’s a day I’ll always remember. I went to race in Europe after I received the British Championship, so 2024 was the first time in about six years I’d raced in the UK, and having that second once more, doing my first FP1 in the UK the place I discovered a lot, was very particular.

“To be honest, a big part of why I’ve been able to get to Formula 1 is because I’m British. The level in the lower categories is extremely high, for sure the weather not always being the greatest helps, and there’s no mystery [about] why there are five British drivers on the grid in F1. I think it was cool to have that first moment again in the UK.”

Remembering the ‘little me that dreamed of this moment’ in F1

Finally, our journey brings us up to the current day, with the final picture in our timeline displaying a beaming Lindblad in the Racing Bulls storage, making ready to get behind the wheel throughout the latest Barcelona Shakedown.

The rookie momentarily seems misplaced in thought as he takes the time to take a look at the picture, which marked what he beforehand referred to as his “first proper go” in the automotive forward of his F1 debut.

When requested if he took a second to digest all of it at the time – or whether or not his focus was purely on getting used to his new challenger – Lindblad solutions: “A bit of each. Obviously I used to be very targeted on the job at hand, which was getting good knowledge for the group to perceive the automotive and that aspect of it.

“But at the similar time, clearly it was additionally very cool for me to be having my first correct F1 expertise as an official F1 driver now. So sure, I used to be very targeted on the job at hand however in the again of my thoughts I used to be nonetheless very excited for the second.

“There was a small part of me that remembers when I was five and I started this journey, the little me that dreamed of having this moment – that was cool, and for sure there’ll be even more of that in the weeks to come in Melbourne.”

As our journey down reminiscence lane wraps up, I’m curious to know if any of these milestones felt notably essential to Lindblad in his trajectory to this level.

“For sure there are parts of the journey that helped, but the good days and the bad days have all shaped what’s happened today and I wouldn’t really change anything if I could,” he reflects. “If I used to be to say something, I’d say simply typically that F3 12 months was very particular for me.

“As I touched on already, I knew it was going to be incredibly difficult and I was quite nervous coming in, and the fact that it went so well, and I also think [it was] quite a pivotal moment in my career, as well as obviously joining the Red Bull programme.”

In the days after our speak, additional key moments would happen for Lindblad as Racing Bulls labored by means of their run plan at pre-season testing, with the teenager setting the highest daily lap count of any driver on the last day with a tally of 165 excursions of the Bahrain International Circuit.

But maybe the largest milestone is but to come, when the new child on the block strains up on the grid for the very first time at the Australian Grand Prix – a second borne out of a sequence of occasions that began with a childhood dream all these years in the past.