Lindblad

Arvid Lindblad said he “showed people a bit of what I am here to do” after finishing eighth on his Formula 1 debut at the Australian Grand Prix.

The 18-year-old Racing Bulls driver, who become the youngest Briton to race in F1 on Sunday, qualified in ninth and briefly rose to third place on the first lap after a dramatic start to the season opener in Melbourne.

Lindblad’s top-10 finish means he enters the record books as the third youngest F1 points scorer at 18 years and seven months – behind Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli and Red Bull’s four-time world champion Max Verstappen.

“When I was five years old, I had a dream and my dream was to be in Formula 1 and I am living my dream today,” he told Sky Sports.

We’re talking at the plush hotel Racing Bulls have picked as their base for the two pre-season tests in Bahrain, which followed a ‘shakedown’ in Spain. It’s not long past 8am, and his next appointment is an engineering meeting, before going out on track later in the day.

Asked if he feels ready for the big time in F1, he says: “Yeah, I think so. Obviously, it’s a big step from F2, especially this year. There’s regulation changes and everything is very different.

“But I’ve been working really hard with the team on the sim (simulator) at the factory, obviously also trying to utilise these three tests that we have.

“That’s a big benefit for me this year. Normally, there’s only one, whereas this year there’s three. So that really helps me to get up to speed. I’m really trying to utilise these tests, and I’m looking forward to getting on track in Melbourne.”

Racing Bulls team principal Alan Permane, who has worked with a multitude of top drivers, including Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso, has been full of praise so far.

“He’s done a fantastic job,” Permane says. “People often ask me, ‘What do you look for? What do you need in a young driver?’ And of course, the first thing you need is for them to be quick. We’re very comfortable with that, we know he’s got the speed.

“But also on top of that, he’s bringing lots of inquisitiveness, he’s asking many questions, his debriefs are great, he’s doing everything we ask of him at the moment.”

F1 is a brutal business, with little sentiment. Drivers either achieve or they’re out. And nowhere is more ruthless than Red Bull.

You might expect Lindblad to be feeling a little pressure mixed in with the obvious excitement. But he says not.

“I wouldn’t really say pressure,” he says. “If I’m being honest, this is what I’ve worked towards my whole life.

“So I’m excited to be here, and all I’m really thinking about at the moment is trying to work with the team, trying to understand the cars to get the best performance I can, trying to extract the most out of the package from the beginning.”