Liam Lawson has already sent a warning to Racing Bulls teammate Arvid Lindblad ahead of F1 debut

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Arvid Lindblad will be the only rookie on the Formula 1 grid in the 2026 season, linking up with Racing Bulls.

That in itself is a daunting prospect for any rookie, but especially so for an 18-year-old, and even more so for somebody making their debut within the Red Bull family.

Red Bull are notorious for making brutal decisions with their drivers, dropping them from the main team to Racing Bulls, as Liam Lawson endured in 2025, or dropping them from the grid entirely, as happened to Yuki Tsunoda at the end of the season.

In 2026, Arvid Lindblad will score ??? points…

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Lindblad could be no different, as he has only got a deal until the end of 2026. He will need to perform at Racing Bulls or risk losing his seat.

Lawson will be his reference next season, having retained his seat over Tsunoda. It will be the Kiwi driver’s second full season in F1, and he knows full well how daunting making his debut was.

Liam Lawson was in constant ‘fear’ during his F1 debut in 2023 – Arvid Lindblad must take this warning

Lawson made his debut in F1 in 2023 with the Faenza outfit, then known as AlphaTauri. Daniel Ricciardo broke his wrist in a crash in practice at the Dutch GP, and the New Zealander was called to stand in.

He would replace Ricciardo for the next five events, scoring his first points in Singapore. At Zandvoort, Lawson finished P13 on debut, and he has bad memories of the weekend.

Speaking to Motorsport.com about his debut, he said: “You know, it’s funny because I don’t think it’s good memories. My memories of that weekend, most of them were just fear and pressure.

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“It was just a very tough weekend. I think I was very relieved to get through it. And I learned a lot from it going into the next few races that I had. But it wasn’t a fun weekend. It was so chaotic. Qualifying was very tricky. The race was… even trickier.

“So it was very much survival, trying to learn everything I could. I remember there was probably 20 laps in there that it dried up and I got into a rhythm. And I enjoyed that. And then it rained again and there was a red flag. So it wasn’t a super enjoyable experience.”

Of course, an F1 debut is a terrifying and pressure-filled experience, but Lindblad cannot afford to let fear overcome him. As his Racing Bulls predecessors have shown, it can have devastating consequences.

Isack Hadjar crashed on the formation lap of his 2025 debut in Melbourne. While he did recover from it and earned a promotion to Red Bull, Lindblad will not want to repeat that mistake; he will need to perform from the off.

READ MORE: Who is 2026 Racing Bulls driver Arvid Lindblad? Everything you need to know

Red Bull highly rate Arvid Lindblad, but will he perform?

Red Bull insiders view Lindblad as ‘the next big thing’ in F1, hence his promotion to Racing Bulls after one year in Formula 2. The team think he could be the successor to Max Verstappen.

While his F2 campaign left something to be desired, he impressed the Milton Keynes outfit in private testing and FP1 appearances. Racing Bulls CEO Peter Bayer was ‘deeply impressed’ by Lindblad in Qatar and how he anticipated the events in the race.

The Brit’s support from Red Bull will be worrying for Lawson. The New Zealander will be the lead driver at Racing Bulls in 2026, and losing to Lindblad will certainly spell the end of his career.

But Lindblad knows he cannot be ‘naive’ in his rookie season. He is well aware, as Bayer and team principal Alan Permane have told him, that 2026 could be a difficult year.