Exclusive: Arvid Lindblad, the 17-year-old Indian-origin F2 Driver, is on the Victory Road to Glory

Arvid Lindblad wrote history on the track by becoming the youngest-ever F2 race winner—and he’s just getting started. Read our exclusive chat with the most exciting driver within the Red Bull Academy.

By Vrutika Shah

May 02, 2025

For Indian motorsport fans, the dream of seeing one of our own atop a Formula 1 podium has been a long-held aspiration—one that still awaits fulfilment. Yet, that hasn't stopped the tricolour from making its presence felt on some of the sport’s most prestigious stages. From Jehan Daruvala to Kush Maini, we've witnessed flashes of brilliance in Formula 2, offering a tantalising glimpse of what the future might hold.

And then, in a defining moment that stirred hearts at home and beyond, Arvid Lindblad—an Indian-origin prodigy racing under the British flag—etched his name into the history books. At the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix weekend, Lindblad clinched victory in the F2 sprint race, becoming the youngest driver ever to stand on the podium in the history of the category. It was more than just a win; it was a signal to the motorsport world that a new era of talent has arrived. We connected with Arvid as he was about to embark upon his F2 season and spoke about everything from his Indian roots to the journey ahead.

Arvid Lindblad wins the F2 Sprint in Saudi Arabia

A testament to his talent is his unusually fast pace of growth in the already-accelerated world of motorsports, and given his ongoing performance it seems like he’s destined to have a F1 career. With only 2 full years of car experience behind him, Arvid has a lot less experience than his competitors, but that’s not even slowing him down. He’s a bright star within the talent pool of Red Bull’s illustrious Junior program, which has seen 17 drivers make it to F1 among which 5 are race winners and two hold multiple world championship titles.

Early Start

Like most professional athletes, Arvid’s career started very young. His Swedish father, Stefan, a former motorcross racer, made sure he grew up in an environment where motorsports was at the forefront. At just three-years-old, Arvid had enrolled for his motorcross race, where he was riding a two-wheeler like his dad.

“From a young age, I was always drawn to cars—when I was 1 or 2, I would sit in the driver seat of my parents’ car parked in the driveway and could apparently spend hours in front of the wheel! Not long after I first started walking and my dad bought me the whole motorcross gear—suit, helmet and pads. It’s funny looking back that he kitted me out fully and took me to the mudfield track to try out my little motorcross bike,” shares Arvid.

The motocross environment was a little hard to digest for his British-Indian mum, Anita, who preferred he picks something a little less dangerous. “My mom didn’t really understand what was going on and went along with it but soon after getting onto the track, she was quite horrified when she saw the motorbikes and big jumps. I wasn’t expected to do that at this stage, but my mom wasn’t happy. I also didn’t really enjoy the bike and so, that ended pretty quickly. But my dad was undeterred.”

Born and raised in London, Arvid and his dad (who also played the role of his mechanic through his early karting career) would head to the circuit at Daytona Sandown Park, with a rented go-kart to fine tune his skills. By the time he turned five, Arvid switched to go-karts and couldn’t get enough. “When I turned six, we were moving houses (in September 2013) and two months before that we spent the summer at my Nana-Nani’s house in Bolton. There was a karting track nearby, where I spent a lot of time. On the weekends, my family came to watch me race. By that time, I had started competing in bambinos—the most junior class of karting. In the UK, grassroot karting is very strong and kids start young. I was fast from the beginning, and I loved entering competitions and being on the podium. During those days, I remember my Nani would sometimes come to the track with homemade Indian food like chapatis, rajma, chicken curry and aloo ghobi and eventually, it became a family weekend out and I think that’s this became a huge part of my family’s life,” Arvid reminisces.

Karting and Becoming a Red Bull Junior driver

At 8, he joined the ZipKart team in 2015—which has been the starting point for some of F1’s biggest success stories like Lewis Hamilton and David Coulthard—and went on to win several national and continental titles. And just like Lewis (for the British Cadet Karting Championship), he also broke the record to be the youngest winner of the British IAME Cadet Championship. “At 11, I went to race in Italy and had many great races. One of my favourite races was when I won at La Conca in 2021 when I was 13 in the OK category. It was my 2nd or 3rd race in this category. It was a very competitive field with a lot of my current F2 competitors… I also raced against Kimi Antonelli who is currently driving for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team. I started 4th and fell to 6th or 7th at the start but my speed resulted in me getting to the front and winning.”

His powerful performance became a point of chatter among the karting paddocks and the grapevine eventually brought him the attention of Jos Verstappen, the father of four-time Champion Max Verstappen and a racer himself. Soon after that, Arvid received a call from Helmut Marko, who heads the driver development program and is the Milton Keynes outfit’s most trusted advisor. “I was signed onto the Red Bull programme during the Portimao GP weekend in October 2020, I had just turned 13. At the time, Jos was involved in the Junior programme and had a bunch of different contacts in the karting world. My engine tuner was good friends with him and I know he talked me up, and so did my karting team’s boss to Red Bull. Their junior programme is one of the best in the motorsport world in identifying and nurturing talent. It is very competitive. The programme expects high performances and results. That’s the way to guarantee onward progression,” Arvid firmly says.

Advancing to Formula 4

Soon enough, he made his single-seater debut in Junior Formulae as a 15-year-old in 2022 by participating in the fifth round of the Italian F4 season by racing for Van Amersfoort Racing, the same Dutch team that drivers like Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc had once driven for. His first full year in cars came with his main campaign in the Italian F4 in 2023, when Arvid moved to the illustrious Prema Racing Team. His season was off to a great start securing his first win at the opening race in Imola and his wins ahead earned him a comfortable 80-point lead in the standings. However, during the final three rounds, reliability issues with the car had him finish the season in third place.

Arvid also contested in the 2023 Euro 4 Championship, where he finished fourth in the overall standings. Later that year, Lindblad joined Prema to compete in the Formula 4 South East Asian Championship and his performance at the Macau Grand Prix attracted the attention of the bigwigs of the industry, courtesy of his double victory and two fastest laps from pole position. This earned him a spot as the finalist for the Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Award.

Amid all this, his mother made sure that Arvid’s academic progress didn’t take a backseat. “Academics and academic success have been a large part of my life. My family on both parents value it highly. My maternal grandparents both studied medicine in India, my mom graduated from Cambridge University and both my parents attended the MBA program at INSEAD together. In terms of my own education, there was a clear expectation from my parents, especially my mom, that this was a non-negotiable part of me being allowed to continue karting or racing. My education could not be compromised on and I was expected to get top grades. I attended the Royal Grammar School, Guildford, until I was 16 and was one of the top performers in Maths and Sciences. But balancing both became more challenging as I turned 12 and was racing in Europe regularly. I had to take a lot of time off school, but I managed with private tuition. I am still studying Maths, Chemistry and Biology,” said Arvid.

Promoting to F3

After only one year in F4, levelling up was on the horizon and he got his first taste of F3 cars during the pre-season when he competed in the partial winter-campaign at the Formula Regional Middle East Championship for Mumbai Falcons in October 2023 and even won in Abu Dhabi. This victory gave him the push needed to become a contender in the full-blown F3 Championship in 2024. He once again partnered with Prema and had a strong season. On debut in F3, he won the first race of the season at Bahrain in the F3 Sprint. He then won his first feature race in Barcelona at the age of 15, making him the youngest drive to stand on pole in F3 history.

Arvid winning pole in Barcelona at the age of 15

He then chartered another record to his name at his home turf in Silverstone, where he became the first driver in FIA F3 to win both races of a two-race weekend. Overall, he finished fourth in the standings but accomplished many records along the way including the highest win percentage in F3 history at 20% wins. He also took the F3 Rookie Award and Most Impressive Driver Award at the FIA prize giving at the end of 2024. He also played a significant role in Prema winning the Constructors Championship for the third time in a row.

Fitness & Diet

To achieve the consistency Arvid performs at, he needs to train and maintain an athlete’s lifestyle with dedication. Like any good racer, he has something of a structured pre-race routine. “I try and get in a good mindset... First, I chill out and get changed into my suit. Then, I’ll lie down and do some visualisation. Following this, I warm up with my trainer and chat with the engineers, then finally, get into my car,” Arvid said. When further prodded about what his workout routine and diet looks like, the 17-year-old stated that he was diagnosed with coeliac disease at age 13, which means that he’s gluten intolerant and that poses to be a challenge given how regularly he travels all over the world. “I focus a lot on getting well-balanced nutrition and protein-rich food. But my favourite food is my Nani’s homecooked Indian meals... especially her dal and chana masala. As far as workouts go, my trainer gives me a plan with activities for each day of the week—these alternate between running, cycling and gym work. A real focus for me has been building neck strength.”

Red Bull Support System

His Red Bull bosses, who love a young kid that can deliver record-breaking wins, made sure nothing stands in his path to F2. Helmut Marko, for one, considers him to be the next big thing coming out of Red Bull’s illustrious junior program. “I have gained a lot from the programme in the support I get from Helmut Marko, Rocky (Guillaume Rocquelin, head of Red Bull’s driver academy and former race-engineer to four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel) and the Junior team. Helmut wants to attract and develop the best talent; I want to be the best driver I can be and a future World Champion. Our goals are aligned. The biggest pressure I put on myself is from me. I feel enormous encouragement from the fact that Helmut considers me a strong driver, it gives me validation of everything I am doing but this isn’t the goal... My goal is to be the best I can possibly be and to continue to grow and develop. I try not to think about much else, things can change quickly. The key is to focus on myself and constantly look to improve.”

Making Roadways and History in Formula 2

In preparation for his F2 debut, he competed in Formula Regional Oceania Championship with M2 Competition and had an impressive seven-race podium streak. Overall, Lindblad finished the season with six wins and 370 points, thus being able to gain the points needed for his FIA Super Licence, which he will only earn once he turns 18. However, you’d be surprised to know that this champion driver is yet to get his UK driver’s permit! “I haven’t got my driving licence yet. In the UK, the first step is pass a theory test. I haven’t had the chance to study for it yet or take it. It’s on my list but unfortunately things have been so busy that I have not had the opportunity to do it.”

Despite that, Arvid had the chance to step into Sebastian Vettel’s 2012 Championship-winning RB8 in Houston for the Red Bull showrun last year. “It was a huge step for me and one of the most memorable drives of my career to date. I watched Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull win the World Championship on TV as a young 5-year-old in that car. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to drive it... I even joked with the Red bull engineers that I was in my F3 season and was directly stepping into an F1 car.”

But it’s not Vettel who Arvid idolises. When it comes to recent times, Arvid’s favourites are former Championship rivals, Lewis and Max. “I think both are super impressive and have shown what a ‘great (sportsman)’ looks like. I identify closely with Lewis; he entered Formula 1 in 2007, the year I was born. He also has mixed heritage like me and has broken down many barriers in the sport. Max is super impressive too. He entered F1 when he was just 17 and made the jump from F3 to F1. He has very few weaknesses and I like his commitment and dedication to the sport. He has also been very kind to me, giving me advice and answering questions that I have.”

In September 2024, Arvid announced that he would be racing in Formula 2 with Campos Racing in the 2025 season. So, how different is F2 from its junior-category counterparts like F3 and F4? “Complexity increases as one moves up, the cars become more advanced. The way you drive also becomes slightly different, but the fundamentals remain the same. The main thing is the speed—they become progressively faster down the straights and in the corners. Also, complexity increases with things like tyre choices, strategy and pit stops coming into play. The biggest change from F4 to higher formulas is that in F4 you have a lot of practise time and quite a lot of time for qualifying rounds compared to the 30 minutes you get in F2 and F3,” said Lindblad.

So far, he’s been having a great year. With 24 points to his name, he currently sits among the top 10 and just recently, he became the youngest F2 winner in history. When asked what kind of mentality a racing driver needs to have to get to pole consistently, Arvid simply said, “You need to be hungry to perform and have a mindset of continuous improvement. It also becomes important to not dwell on setbacks, reframe them positively and bounce back quickly.”

While this period in his life is all about performance and excelling, he’s been making attempts to connect to his roots. In December 2024, the Lindblad family visited India, hitting the tourist spots like Jaipur, Delhi and Agra. “I loved my time in India and the warmth and kindness shown to me and my family. India has a very special place in my heart. It is the birthplace of my maternal grandparents who I am very close to… but India is a place unlike any other. I have never seen a place with so many people and hustle and bustle.”

On this trip, Arvid also had an opportunity to meet Red Bull’s India counterpart and check out the Buddh International Circuit. “It was great to walk around the track and see the history of the place. I enjoyed doing a bit of drifting, it was great fun!” Arvid exclaimed.

With Formula 1 gaining a lot of attention in India, day-by-day its looking as though the time for Indian racing drivers being seen on the forefront seems to be fast approaching. But, for any athlete to be able to be at the pinnacle of any sport, they need to have the kind infrastructure and support that nurtures their talent. “I think it will take time to develop the grassroot level of the sport in India but it’s clear this will happen. Indian drivers play an important part in showing what is possible and I am keen to play my part and inspire the Indian youth. The new FIA-recognised Mika Karting Track in Chennai is an important step on the way in providing world-class facilities. It would be wonderful if India hosts an F1 race in the near future and I hope one day to be able to drive at it.”