Arvid Lindblad: ‘I told Lando Norris five years ago I’d be in F1 – it’s always been my dream’

London – Arvid Lindblad’s Formula 1 arrival has been 14 years in the making. This weekend in Melbourne the 18-year-old will partner Liam Lawson at Racing Bulls, Red Bull’s junior squad, and become the youngest British driver ever to start a grand prix, usurping Lando Norris and Ollie Bearman. Yet the Surrey teenager can still recall the exact moment the dream took hold: 2011, age four, watching a race on the family sofa. “I asked my Dad: ‘How do you get there? Could I be there one day?’”

The path from that question to an F1 cockpit was neither straight nor simple. Karting success came first—weekends at Hooton Park in Birkenhead while visiting grandparents in Bolton, then European events that repeatedly pulled him out of lessons at RGS Guildford. His mother, Anita, insisted that the first sign of plateauing results would mean a permanent return to full-time schooling. “That moment never came,” Lindblad laughs. “She only told me the story a few years ago.”

By 13 he had caught the eye of Helmut Marko, then head of Red Bull’s driver academy, who phoned Stefan Lindblad during the 2019 World Karting Championships in Portimão to offer Arvid a place on the programme. A year later, undeterred by a recent coeliac-disease diagnosis, Lindblad strode up to McLaren’s Lando Norris at Adria Karting Raceway and delivered a promise that has since gone viral: “Lando, I want you to remember me. I will see you in five years.” Norris, amused, replied: “Yeah? Alright!”

The five-year deadline expires this season with Norris the reigning world champion and Lindblad stepping onto the same grid. “Manifestation, maybe?!” he jokes, seated in Red Bull’s Covent Garden offices. “Lando’s been very friendly whenever we’ve met since, and he sent a nice message after the announcement.”

Lindblad’s junior single-seater résumé is compressed but eye-catching. He made his F2 debut only last season, claiming a memorable win in Barcelona but also a costly Monza shunt on the way to sixth overall. Mixed results did not stall Red Bull’s plans; the energy-drink giant has never hesitated to fast-track its juniors, as Isack Hadjar’s impressive 2025 rookie campaign proved. “It’s very impressive what Isack has done,” Lindblad notes, “but I’m focused on myself now.”

Off-track he continues to juggle academics with apexes. GCSEs of 9s and 7s (the equivalent of A*s and As) were followed by home-schooling from age 15; A-Levels in maths and chemistry remain a work in progress, dyslexia making numbers far friendlier than essays. “I don’t know if I’ll sit the exams this year, but if I do I want at least an A,” he says, mindful of a 24-race calendar. “Education is important; RGS were very accommodating.”

Socially, the constant absences took a toll. “I’m not really in contact with classmates anymore,” he admits. “Racing meant Europe every weekend. It wasn’t easy, but it was a sacrifice I was always willing to make.”

Family backing, though sometimes reluctant, has been unwavering. Anita, of Indian heritage, championed education; Stefan, Swedish and a former club racer himself, avoided track-side pressure. “Dad always left me to it,” Lindblad says. “He knew if he pushed too much, I’d lose the internal passion.”

That passion now propels him to Albert Park as the only rookie on the 2026 grid and, at 18 years and 234 days, the fourth-youngest F1 starter in history. A measured first season with Racing Bulls is the immediate target, but the long-term aim is unambiguous. After a brief pause he states: “I’m working towards becoming a Formula 1 world champion one day, that’s for sure.”

Five years ago he told Norris he would reach F1. On Sunday he will line up on the same Melbourne grid, the latest proof that childhood dreams—when combined with talent, sacrifice and a supportive but balanced family—can indeed come true.