Today's Edition
KUUMAR SHYAM (ABU DHABI)
Leonardo Fornaroli took the championship crown in the Formula 2 feeder series on Sunday, but the bigger winner further down the overall leaderboard was the sixth-placed Arvid Lindblad of Campos Racing.
The British-Swedish driver, born to an Indian mother, has left his contemporaries envious — not just this year, but for three years now. In 2022, he made his debut in the Formula 4 category. Since then, the 18-year-old has progressed to Formula 3 and Formula 2 under the Red Bull Junior Team umbrella.
Last week, it was announced that he will be competing in the elite Formula 1 championship for Racing Bulls, the secondary team of the marque. He secured three wins this year for Campos, including the sprint race in Abu Dhabi on Saturday. As recently as last week in Qatar, his performances were enough to impress Racing Bulls, leading them to select him to replace Isack Hadjar, who has in turn moved up to the main Red Bull team alongside Max Verstappen.
Lindblad’s competitive edge was on full display in October when he filled in for Max Verstappen at the Mexican Grand Prix, finishing sixth. This performance cemented his reputation, and his promotion to a permanent F1 seat was soon confirmed. It is a poetic ending to the story of a very determined Lindblad, who, even in his karting days, was convinced he would make it big.
It was in 2021 that the then 14-year-old had a brief encounter with Lando Norris, when the McLaren driver launched his own karting chassis at the same track Lindblad was driving. “I told my friend: ‘I think I’m going up to Lando'. And he was like: ‘Oh no, you don’t have the guts'. I didn’t really know what I was going to say, and the first thing that came out was: ‘I want you to remember me. I’m going to see you in five years.'
“I think he was taken aback a bit and said something like: ‘Oh, that’s nice to think of it’. I’m sure there are lots of people that say those kinds of things, so it didn’t really mean anything at the time. But like I said, I had this belief I would make it to F1.”
At the end of the 2024 season, he spent time with the Campos team, driving the car during off-season testing in Abu Dhabi before jetting off to India for the first time in his life. “This year’s plan is the same. I plan to go to India again, spend time doing touristy things, but cut back a little because I wasn’t expecting this, and I need to prepare for F1,” Lindblad told Aletihad.
“Being honest, I think I’m not 100% ready, but that’s normal,” he acknowledged after the sprint race win on Saturday. “I’ve progressed through the ranks very quickly, so I’m used to being in the position where I’m sort of thrown in the deep end and have to find a way to figure it out.”
These are interesting times for Lindblad as he circles back to his roots — his family tree and living up to his childhood dream. Although it is not McLaren and Norris as his teammates, Lindblad is at least on the same grid as he looks forward to partnering with Liam Lawson, another Red Bull graduate, in the top league for Racing Bulls.
