Racing Bulls’s Arvid Lindblad had mixed sensations about his top ten result in Qualifying for the F1 Austrian GP. The young Brit’s Saturday had begun positively, with another strong top ten finish in FP3, right behind his teammate Liam Lawson. However, he encountered some troubles throughout the three Qualifying segments, which in his opinion prevented him to maximise his potential.
Nevertheless, it was a strong showing for the talent, in his first Formula 1 season, as he managed to consistently end in the top ten all three segments of Qualifying, even setting a lap time faster than Max Verstappen during the final, heated moments of Q2 to set the ninth fastest time of the day in 1:07.155.
Trouble solved ahead of the main event
Overall, Lindblad was positive following his P10 start for the F1 Austrian GP secured in qualifying. His feeling was increased following the hardships encountered during Friday, as while on track for FP1 and FP2 he had struggled with braking. However, with the assistance of his Faenza team he was able to sort it out, as he explained in a post qualifying interview.
“I had big brake issues yesterday and this morning, so we got a sorter today, which was nice.”
Lindblad is hopeful to be able to continue his positive points-scoring streak, after having scored in both the latest rounds at Monaco and Barcelona. The former Campos Racing driver also looked back at the earlier rounds of the season, during which h both him and Lawson were consistently stuck out of the top positions, and wanted to thank the Racing Bulls team for the hard work done in developing the VCARB 03.
“I’d say the guys at the factory have done arguably the best job in the midfield over the past couple of weekends. It wasn’t that long ago we were in Miami and it was not easy to get out of Q1.”
Very pleased with the new pace introduced in his VCARB 03
“So, the guys at the factory, both Milton Keynes and Faenza, are doing an amazing job to bring upgrades, to bring performance to the car and put us in this position, so big thanks to them.”
Asked whether he believes that the Alpine drivers will pose a severe threat to him and Lawson during the actual race, Lindblad denied, confident in his abilities and his challenger, as well as in the pace shown thus far in the latest rounds.
“No, I wouldn’t say. For me, they had the edge on deg. Liam struggled a little bit more, but my pace was very good in Barcelona, so I’m confident.”
