Arvid Lindblad immediately made an impression on his F1 qualifying debut at the 2026 Australian GP, putting his Racing Bulls ninth on the grid, achieving Q3 in his first try, and lining up just behind his team-mate Liam Lawson.
The British driver, who graduated to F1 after a single season in F2 last year – in which he finished sixth in the championship and grabbed three victories along the way – showed impressive pace throughout the practice sessions in Melbourne, and that pace translated to a strong finish in qualifying for the opening race of the season.
Lindblad: “Much better” than expected to be in Q3 on debut at F1 Australian GP
Lindblad admitted he was feeling some excitement coming into his debut weekend in F1, but could never expect to have had such a good result straight away. He looked comfortable in the VCARB-03 all weekend, and even looked like he had the pace to out-perform his more experienced team-mate Liam Lawson.
“It’s been a really good weekend so far,” Lindblad told select F1 media after qualifying ninth for the 2026 Australian GP. “I was extremely excited for me into the weekend. I mean, this is something I’ve been working towards and dreaming of my whole life.
“So to be having my debut is extremely cool. And to have it gone so well today is much better than my expectations. I’m just really much looking forward to the race tomorrow.
“I think the weekend’s gone really well so far. Like I said before, it was much beyond me and the team’s expectations.
“Coming into the weekend, we made a massive step from Bahrain.So the weekend’s gone really smoothly. I felt really comfortable with the car from the beginning. And I’ve just really enjoyed driving.
“Massive thanks to them for all the work they’ve done. Let’s see tomorrow.
Shifting issue in Q3 cost Lindblad a shot at beating Lawson in Australian GP qualifying
Although the overall result proved to be very positive, there could’ve been even more joy for Lindblad in Q3.
His Racing Bulls car suffered from what the team’s Chief Technical Officer Tim Goss described as a “minor control issue” that derailed Lindblad’s final Q3 attempt, which explains why he was suddenly over a second slower than Lawson, as Lindblad managed to set a 1:19.971 in Q2, but could only do a 1:21.247 in Q3 – losing over 1.2 seconds from one session to the next:
“Liam [Lawson] delivered another great lap [in Q3], however Arvid [Lindblad] suffered a minor control issue, which cost significant performance,” Goss said in the team’s press release. “The job is a long way from being complete, but we look forward to Sunday’s race to deliver a good points finish.”
“Unnecessary stress”: the moment with Bortoleto on the pit entry
When Gabriel Bortoleto’s car came to a halt at the pit entry at the end of Q2, Lindblad’s team-mate Lawson was following the Brazilian and slowed down significantly to acommodate for the ailing Audi driver – however Lindblad wasn’t aware of it and reached the pits in a normal speed, which almost caused a collision just moments before Q3.
When asked about it, Lindblad explained that he’s yet to understand whether there was some miscommunication with his team that caused the moment, or if he could’ve done something differently to avoid the “unnecessary stress“:
“It was a bit scary,” he admitted. “So we’ll look into it with the team. If there was something that I did wrong, or there was some communication that was missing.
“But regardless, there’s no point dwelling on it now. It was all okay in the end, thank God. So we’ll see if there’s anything we can do different next time.
“It was a bit of unnecessary stress.”
Lindblad full of praise for Red Bull’s new F1 powertrain
Although Mercedes seems to be in a class of its own at the moment, Red Bull’s start of its new powertrains division has proved to be a resounding success, with Isack Hadjar lining up third on the grid and both Racing Bulls reaching Q3 at the first attempt.
Despite suffering from a minor issue in Q3, Lindblad was full of praise for the work done by Red Bull and Ford on the reliability of their new F1 power unit, which he believes is a key factor to putting them in a strong position for tomorrow’s Australian GP:
“I mean, the reliability has been really strong. I think, you know, RBPT and Ford have done a phenomenal job.
“The performance of the engine is really strong. I think we’re really efficient, which has helped us on this track so far.
“And the reliability has been really strong as well, which has helped us get mileage and be in the position we are now.”
