Lando Norris
McLaren
Mercedes
Red Bull
Ferrari
Williams
Racing Bulls
Aston Martin
Haas
Alpine
Arvid Lindblad completed 120 laps as he made his first official appearance as a Racing Bulls Formula 1 driver on Wednesday. Lindblad is the only rookie on this year’s grid.
Teammate Liam Lawson drove the VCARB03 on the opening day of the test before Racing Bulls sat out Tuesday’s weather-affected running. They will be able to run on one of the last two days.
Lindblad was seventh fastest of the eight drivers who took to the track on Wednesday, but it’s far more important that he completed nearly two Grand Prix distances in Barcelona.
Arvid Lindblad has impressed Racing Bulls in testing so far… How will he compare to Liam Lawson this season?
Let us know in the comments below!
Lindblad’s car had to be recovered after he made a mistake in difficult conditions during Racing Bulls’ shakedown at Imola, so this will be a boost to the 18-year-old’s confidence.
Arvid Lindblad quicker than Liam Lawson after first Barcelona Shakedown laps
Discounting newcomers Cadillac, only two teams have changed driver line-ups for 2026 – Red Bull, who promoted Isack Hadjar and dropped Yuki Tsunoda, and Racing Bulls, who turned to Lindblad after Hadjar’s exit.
One suspects that Lawson will have to beat Lindblad to protect his career, but the rookie will need to apply pressure quickly to impress the bosses at Red Bull.
A first comparison can now be made, with Lindblad’s personal best (1:19.420) over two seconds faster than Lawson’s 1:21.513 from Monday. He completed an additional 32 laps, though this leap was to be expected after the team completed their initial checks.
How do you rate the 2026 Racing Bulls livery out of 10? 👇
Kimi Antonelli set the fastest time of testing overall on Wednesday, which indicates that the teams and drivers may be starting to push a little harder. The track conditions were similar on days one and three but obviously not identical.
It’s no surprise that Lindblad appeared to be on a different run plan to Lawson. He has far more to learn across four and a half days in the car this winter.
It should also be noted that the lap times are unofficial, though they have been corroborated by several sources.
Arvid Lindblad caused a red flag during the Barcelona Shakedown
There was one setback for Lindblad on Wednesday when he stopped on track and caused a brief stoppage to the session. A video posted on social media appeared to show the Briton crawling around the track.
Racing Bulls haven’t specified exactly what the problem was, which tallies with the private nature of the test, but it clearly wasn’t severe given his final lap count.
The new Red Bull power unit has generally run smoothly across the early days of testing. Hadjar brought out the red flags on Tuesday but that was after a crash in wet conditions.
Haas’ Oliver Bearman and Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg both experienced issues on Wednesday, too. Hulkenberg somewhat recovered by posting 68 laps, but Bearman was limited to 42.
Receive exclusive F1 news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
