Feb.18 (GMM) The subsequent in line for a seat at Pink Bull’s second Formulation 1 crew, Racing Bulls, is clearly Arvid Lindblad.
With Liam Lawson stepping as much as change into Max Verstappen’s teammate this yr, and rookie Isack Hadjar changing Lawson at Racing Bulls, the vitality drink-owned F1 concern is notably lacking an apparent reserve driver for 2025.
However a British-born Swedish 17-year-old with Indian heritage, Lindblad, impressed Pink Bull a lot in his first Formulation 3 season final yr that he has already secured a promotion to F2.
Lindblad is clearly being fast-tracked to Formulation 1, together with his latest participation within the Formulation Regional Oceania sequence in New Zealand serving to him safe sufficient factors for a F1 tremendous license.
“Truthfully, I don’t know all of the ins and outs of it,” he mentioned. “I used to be simply advised ‘we wish you to go to New Zealand, we wish you to have the complete tremendous license earlier than the beginning of the F1 season’.
“I’m very conscious that it’s all good, however we all know that the efficiency in F2 will dictate whether or not I get an F1 alternative or not, in order that’s what I’m targeted on in the intervening time,” Lindblad added.
It’s also believed Pink Bull is organising a ‘TPC’ take a look at program for Lindblad this yr to not less than give him loads of expertise in a two-year-old F1 automobile.
“He’s undoubtedly our biggest (new) expertise,” mentioned Pink Bull F1 advisor Dr Helmut Marko. “He’s undoubtedly the one who’s pushing himself from the again to the entrance of the queue together with his performances.”
La Gazzetta dello Sport additionally quotes Marko as crowning Lindblad “the champion of tomorrow” in F1.
“What makes this man distinctive is his pure pace,” the 81-year-old added. “We’re in search of a brand new champion and he may need what it takes.
“In one of many Formulation 3 races he overtook 10 or 14 drivers in a single lap,” mentioned Marko. “He gained the race beginning final in tough situations of moist, dry and so forth.”
Marko has admitted a number of occasions prior to now that he assesses future champions not solely based mostly on their on-track antics, however the best way they conduct themselves off the observe as nicely.
Recalling the primary time he met Lindblad, the Austrian defined: “He and his father had been there nevertheless it was Arvid, regardless that he was solely 12, who led the entire dialog.
“He already had a transparent imaginative and prescient and a transparent option to realise it and since then he has moved ahead steadily.”
