A record was broken at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix as one of the brightest young talents on the ladder to Formula 1 made more history while sporting Red Bull colours
Arvid Lindblad has made history by becoming the youngest race winner in Formula 2 history. The 17-year-old took victory in the sprint race at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix with no-one younger having achieved that since the current version of the series began in 2017.
Richard Verschoor was the first to take the chequered flag on track. However, he was carrying a five-second time penalty for forcing another driver off track and so F2 rookie Lindblad, who was just over one second behind him on track, inherited the victory.
Lindblad led a one-two finish for the Campos Racing team, with Pepe Marti taking second place. McLaren junior Alex Dunne was fourth on the road and inherited third place as a result of Verschoor’s penalty, adding to his maiden victory at F2 level in the Bahrain sprint race last Sunday.
Red Bull bosses will also have been delighted with the result of Saturday’s sprint race in Jeddah. Lindblad and Marti are both members of their young driver academy with the former in particular highly-rated by Helmut Marko.
READ MORE: Toto Wolff responds as Martin Brundle asks about ‘the next Lewis Hamilton’READ MORE: Sky Sports issue apology as major issue affects live Saudi Grand Prix coverage
The Austrian, who is responsible for the development of Red Bull’s stars of tomorrow, has spoken highly of Lindblad in recent times. And the teenager, who holds Swedish nationality but races under the British flag, is tipped to be the next of their graduates to make it to Formula 1.
Lindblad is only 16 years old so it’s difficult to say, but you saw the [2025 Formula 3] race at Silverstone,” Marko told GrandPrix247. “The Feature Race where he had enormous pressure from [Gabriele] Mini is his second year and two years older with far more experience. He held him off and in the end, Mini cooked his tyres trying to catch him.
Sky Sports launches discounted Formula 1 package
£43
£35
Sky
Get Sky Sports here
Formula 1 fans can watch every practice, qualifying and race live with Sky’s new Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle in a new deal that saves £192.
As well as Sky Sports access, this includes more than 100 TV channels and free subscriptions to Netflix and Discovery+.
“For his age, he’s very mature and a lot of confidence like Liam Lawson. It might be the best thing to give them first a year at VCARB and then move up to Red Bull Racing. But they have, of course, to get more ready and they can’t go straightaway and say we will beat Max. That was a mistake – for example, Pierre Gasly thought he was as good as Max.
“Maybe Lawson or Lindblad will be ready in two or three years for Red Bull Racing. Not sure if Max will be racing at the time. If Max feels he doesn’t enjoy F1 anymore, he doesn’t want it he will come to us and say thank you, that’s it.”
Lawson, of course, got the nod to drive for Red Bull Racing at the start of this season. However, he buckled under the pressure of sharing a garage with Max Verstappen and was replaced by Yuki Tsunoda after only two rounds.
Lawson is back with junior team Racing Bulls, driving alongside Isack Hadjar. Their contracts and that of Tsunoda all expire at the end of 2025 and so there will be room for Lindblad in F1 for the 2026 season if just one of them was not to be offered a renewal.
