Arvid Lindblad – Red Bull junior next in line for F1?

“Lando, I want you to remember me; I’ll see you in five years.” Then 14-year-old Arvid Lindblad made a bold promise to Lando Norris when he met him at Italy’s Adria Karting Raceway back in 2021. Fast forward to 2025, and now 17-year-old Lindblad is on the precipice of making those words come true.

“It was quite a spur-of-the-moment thing,” the Brit reflects on his comment made to Norris. He shared that it was partly inspired by a young Lewis Hamilton (who was 10 at the time), approaching then McLaren team principal Ron Dennis at the 1995 Autosport Awards and telling him he wanted to race for McLaren in the future.

Fast track

Lindblad becomes the youngest F2 race winner

“I’m sticking to the timeline quite well. I didn’t give myself much margin because I’ve gone through the categories as fast as possible,” quips Lindblad.

After a meteoric rise through the motorsport ranks, he’s currently racing in F2 – just three years after making his single-seater debut back in 2022. And the Red Bull junior has already made history in the championship, becoming the youngest-ever F2 race winner thanks to his Sprint Race triumph at Jeddah.

That was just the third round in his rookie F2 season. When asked if he expected his first win to come so soon, Lindblad replied, “Some people talk about having a learning year, I’ve never had that mindset. I want to win in everything that I do.”

He added, “I knew the beginning of the season was going to be the hardest because I was coming with the least experience, and there was the most to learn. I wasn’t expecting it (his first F2 win) to come so early, but I knew that I had a really good team behind me.”

But Lindblad isn’t just satisfied with the records and acknowledged that “there’s still a lot of work to be done.”

“I do want to challenge for wins, pole positions, and podiums in Feature Races, especially in the second half of the season, ideally even sooner,” he added. Lindblad didn’t have to wait too long to taste his first Feature Race victory. A little over two months after Jeddah, he added another F2 win to his tally, this time for the Barcelona Feature Race – a result that moves him up to third in the standings.

Lindblad points out that this is also a crucial year of learning for him, though. “I’m still very young and inexperienced,” he admitted. “I’m 17, racing in F2 in [just] my third year of [racing] cars. I think most people in F2 are in their fifth or sixth year in cars. So, it’s also a combination of just maximising every weekend and also trying to improve as a driver, because there’s still a lot that I have to experience and a lot of knowledge still to acquire.”

F1 on the horizon

Lindblad granted Super Licence

It was a busy ‘off-season’ for Lindblad over the winter. After post-season testing in Abu Dhabi, he visited India to connect with his roots. While his surname is clearly indicative of his Swedish ancestry, few know about Lindblad’s Indian heritage (from his mother’s side). “I really enjoyed my time in India. It was amazing to see and experience my heritage and learn more about my Indian roots.”

But it was soon time to go racing again. He competed in and won the 2025 Formula Regional Oceania Championship at the start of the year. One big reason why he undertook this campaign was to collect enough Super License points, which is necessary to race in F1.

It’s no secret that Lindblad is on Red Bull’s radar. He’s been part of their junior programme since 2021 and has earned plenty of praise from Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko and F1 team principal Christian Horner.

F1 currently requires drivers to be at least 18 years old to obtain even a Friday practice Super License. But there is a clause that allows drivers to receive one at 17, should they be “judged to have recently and consistently demonstrated outstanding ability and maturity in single-seater formula car competition.”

It is understood that Red Bull had already applied for this exemption earlier this year, and following a recent meeting, the FIA World Motor Sport Council has granted Lindblad a Super Licence before he turns 18 this August. This paves the way for him to participate in upcoming Friday practice sessions.

All the signs certainly indicate that Red Bull is gearing up for Lindblad to make his F1 debut sooner rather than later. But it’s also well known that Red Bull’s junior programme is fiercely competitive. Just earlier this year, Liam Lawson was replaced by Yuki Tsunoda at the parent team after just two races. However, Lindblad says he doesn’t necessarily feel the pressure to stand out.

“The way I see it is I want to be in Formula 1. I had [that] dream long before I started being part of the Red Bull programme,” he added.

“They believe in me, and that’s why I’m on their programme. But I’m here for myself, I want to win. And they want to win as well, so they want to bring drivers through to the main team. I see it more as them having confidence and belief in me, which actually gives me confidence, rather than anything to the contrary.”

Also see:

Fast track to F1? Lindblad discusses F3 title fight, India connect and more