Yuki Tsunoda’s engineer details how Arvid Lindblad left Red Bull blown away during his FP1 debut

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Arvid Lindblad is expected to be announced as Liam Lawson’s partner at Racing Bulls for the 2026 Formula 1 season after taking part in two FP1 sessions with Red Bull during 2025.

Having just turned 18 years old in August, Arvid Lindblad is the latest teenager to take the single-seater ladder by storm.

The British driver became an affiliate of Red Bull during his karting days, signing with the junior team in 2021.

Helmut Marko has been an admirer of Lindblad’s talents since. The special advisor’s opinion on the current Formula 2 driver is understood to have been a key factor driving his promotion to F1.

He got his first taste of an official F1 race weekend at the 2025 British Grand Prix, where he jumped into Yuki Tsunoda’s RB21 for the first hour of practice at Silverstone.

• READ MORE: Laurent Mekies just increased the ‘tension’ at Red Bull with his comment about Liam Lawson’s future

Red Bull race engineer Richard Wood detailed Arvid Lindblad’s impressive FP1 debut at the British Grand Prix

In a behind-the-scenes video posted to Red Bull’s official YouTube channel, Tsunoda’s current race engineer, Richard Wood, gave a rundown of what was to be expected of Lindblad during his first official testing session, as well as his thoughts on the youngster after the session concluded.

Wood began by saying, “So, in the session with Arvid, we’re just looking for confidence. Making sure he’s confident in the car, he’s doing a good job, and he’s listening to what you’re asking of him.

“But then also he’s coming back, and he’s giving you feedback. That gives you an idea of how he reads the car and how he knows how to drive as well.

“So, it’s sort of a two-way street, but you’re always just seeing what he takes on himself and how he handles the situation.”

Following the conclusion of FP1 at the British Grand Prix, Wood then detailed how impressed he was with the then 17-year-old, saying, “It was a tricky session. We were a bit out of phase at times with our run plan, but he handled traffic really well and did a really good job.

“Definitely calm, cool, and collected. He was very calm on the radio, especially when he had all these cars on high fuel flying past him.

“He’s very clear and concise with his feedback. He knew what he wanted from the car, which is quite nice for a junior driver in the first five laps he’s had in our car.”

Wood concluded by saying, “It was a very confident performance.”

• READ MORE: Red Bull junior Arvid Lindblad’s life outside F1 from height to parents

Arvid Lindblad’s FP1 lap time comparison to Max Verstappen at the 2025 British Grand Prix

During the session, Lindblad caught the eye of Lando Norris, who predicted it to be just a matter of time before his compatriot is racing against him in F1 soon.

Lindblad’s fastest time of his FP1 debut saw him set the 14th fastest time out of the 20 participating drivers.

He was just five-tenths slower than the four-time world champion, Max Verstappen, in equal machinery, which is mightily impressive considering the vast difference in F1 experience between the two drivers.

Lindblad has already made it clear that he doesn’t want to be ‘the next Max Verstappen’ in F1, and is adamant about building a legacy surrounding his own name in the future.

The first step of that will be his rookie season next year, if Red Bull decides to pull the trigger and promote him to a seat at Racing Bulls.