Despite his disqualification, Campos Racing’s Arvid Lindblad delivered a podium-worthy performance during the Feature Race at the F2 Belgian GP. The stewards disqualified the Briton from the race after they found his car had breached the minimum tyre pressure regulations—an important rule all drivers and teams must follow. As a result, Lindblad has lost both the podium and valuable points in his championship fight.
After a frustrating Sprint Saturday, where he received a five-second time penalty post-race, Lindblad bounced back strongly with an impressive drive on Sunday. During the post-Feature press conference, the Briton spoke to Pit Debrief and other media outlets as he reflected on his charge from P5.
First podium since Barcelona
Reflecting on the race, Lindblad described it as one he thoroughly enjoyed. He acknowledged his strong race-pace having started from P5. The young Briton admitted he felt slightly disappointed when the late safety car came out, as he had hoped to pose a challenge on Rodin Motorsport’s Alex Dunne for the win on-track. Unfortunately, like Lindblad, the stewards handed Dunne a ten-second time penalty after the race, which ultimately stripped him of his well-deserved win.
“Yeah, no, it was a fun race. I started P5 and really fast all throughout. I was a bit gutted when the safety car came out because I was really fast at that point of the race and it would have been cool to have a bit of a hunt and a go to try to get towards Alex [Dunne].”
Since his win in Barcelona, Lindblad’s had a run of subpar weekends. Having showed promising pace on track, the 17 year-old expressed relief at regaining his form once more.
“But yeah, just happy to be on the podium again. It’s been a bit difficult the last couple of rounds. So hopefully this is the start of a good form again.”
Early pass on Stanek was crucial
Having qualifed P5, Lindblad got his elbows out and carved his way through the field. As the rain brought limited visibility, he recognised early on that overtaking wouldn’t come easy—even if he had stronger pace. Spotting an opportunity as ART GP’s Ritomo Miyata and Invicta Racing’s Roman Staněk battled, Lindblad explained his decision to capitalise on the situation that unfolded infront of him. Making a decisive move on Staněk, the Briton believed it was what shaped the outcome of his race today.
“Yeah, I saw from the first stint that it’s not easy to pass. Even with Victor I was quite a lot quicker and I really struggled to get through. And I knew when I saw Ritomo [Miyata] and Roman [Staněk] fighting that that was an opportunity to try to capitalise and I needed to make the move stick.”
“So yeah, it was really good to get the move done on Roman [Staněk] at that point and definitely helped my race to that point.”
On-track P2 finish fuels title contention
Before his disqualification, the 17 year-old would’ve been just six points shy of Hitech TGR’s Luke Browning in the Drivers’ Standings. However, the young Red Bull prodigy remains behind teammate Pepe Martí with 84 points to his name. From the last two rounds, Lindblad had only walked away with five points. Aware of his and the team’s recent struggles, he knew strong results at Spa and Budapest were crucial to staying in the title fight. Nonetheless, the Briton knows consistency will be key to staying in it as five rounds remain.
“Yeah, it’s not been good the last few rounds. We’ve struggled a lot as a team. So I knew that here and Budapest was going to be crucial to stay in the fight. I mean you said Alex [Dunne] has got the lead now so it’s a bit difficult towards him but at least for second it’s still very close.”
“So yeah, it was important and I think today shows that but we need to keep this up now.”
Navigating tricky sector one in the wet
Rainfall varied throughout the race, coming and going in differing intensities. At a high-speed circuit like Spa, pushing the limits—especially in wet conditions—comes with its risks. When asked about how drivers navigated the wet, Lindblad admitted the conditions were challenging. He described how poor the visibility was even during the heaviest rainfall. Noting that while he tried to push harder trusting the tyres could handle the wetter track, they ultimately didn’t deliver the grip he expected.
“Yeah, it was a bit sketchy. I mean, I was even in free air when it really was sort of belting it down and I struggled to see. So I think, yeah, from Roman [Staněk]’s point, it probably was a good thing that it wasn’t restarted.”
“But no, in the car, it wasn’t easy. I tried to actually push more because it was wetter. I thought the tyre would be able to handle it, but not really, unfortunately.”
In regard to racing lines, Lindblad said not much changed during the race. Once he had found where the grip was, the line stayed fairly consistent.
Lindblad continued: “And then on the lines, no, not really. I mean, you kind of find where the grip is and then that kind of stays. So from that side, it didn’t change much.”
Balancing risk and reward at Spa
Lindblad had clarified that his earlier comments in the cooldown room wasn’t about fearing to race in treacherous conditions. In fact, the young Briton was excited to get going. He explained that while the start of the race felt ideal for proper wet-weather racing, his concerns were mainly about the worsening conditions at Eau Rouge that came towards the end.
“Yeah, well to be honest I think that was maybe a miscommunication. Before the start of the race I was really excited after F3 but there wasn’t a race. I was sort of buzzing to get going.”
“So I thought the start of the race was actually really good. It was quite a nice sort of balance of wet enough to race properly and not suffer massively with the tyres and still be able to see. I was more referring to when it started really getting wet in Eau Rouge towards the end.”
During the final laps of the race, heavier rain showers fell. Re-emphasising on his concerns, the 17 year-old believes that a premature end to the race was the right call.
“Sort of around when the safety car came out that it was a bit on the dangerous side and I think it wasn’t a bad thing that it was not restarted.”
Mindset preparation headed into a wet race weekend
Lindblad candidly admitted he wasn’t too disappointed to see rain for Sunday. Especially after struggling for pace in the dry, the 17 year-old welcomed the idea of wet conditions as he thought it served as an opportunity to deliver better results.
“Not really. I mean I had a bit of a look before the week and I think it was quite nice that Friday was dry.”
“I think [Qualifying] around here in the dry, high grip, it’s always really fun to experience. But then, when I saw today was wet after yesterday, I wasn’t really too disappointed because we weren’t very fast in the dry so I thought it was at least another chance to do something and yeah. I mean pace was really good in the wet, so definitely happy it was wet.”
Strategy call was the right one
Compared to Martí, Campos had chosen to pit Lindblad a lap later. When asked by Pit Debrief if an alternate strategy would’ve worked, the Briton wasn’t regretful and is happy with what they did. Reflecting on their strategy, capitalising on a clear track to deliver a strong in-lap and gaining track position through his pit stop was ultimately the right call for Lindblad.
“Yeah, I mean I was talking with the team quite early on about doing a pit stop and trying to get into free air because I was stuck behind Victor [Martins]. And that was not easy because then you just box into traffic.”
“So yeah, we had to wait a bit and then yeah, I did it a lap after Victor [Martins] and Pepe [Martí] and I was in free air and I was really able to sort of capitalise on that and do a really good in-lap. And yeah, make up some track positions through the stop so I think in hindsight my pit stop lap was really good.”
However, it is not long before Lindblad gets the opportunity to bounce back. Up next, F2 heads to Budapest for the tenth round of racing in 2025.
