Arvid Lindblad is the only rookie on this year's Formula 1 grid, following a relatively quiet offseason with very few driver changes.
The 18-year-old's introduction to F1 was anything but quiet.
In his first race with Visa Cash App Racing Bulls, Lindblad was running third on the opening lap, after an epic start from ninth on the grid in Melbourne.
He brought the car home eighth, making him the organization's first driver since Carlos Sainz Jr., who did it at the same Albert Park venue in 2015 under the team name Toro Rosso, to score points on F1 debut.
"It was pretty cool," Lindblad told FanSided's Beyond the Flag, in an interview made possible through the team's partnership with Mobil. "Melbourne was a very special weekend for me. I always dreamed of getting to Formula 1. I always dreamed of having that day, just having your first F1 Grand Prix, doing your debut, so just to have that moment for me was very special.
"I had my parents there with me as well, which was really nice. And then obviously the way the weekend went as well: Q3, points, even running P3 at one point on lap one, it was pretty cool. Something I couldn’t have couldn’t have dreamed of."
After winning four Formula 3 races in 2024, Lindblad won three Formula 2 races in 2025, and he also won the Formula Regional Oceania Championship. He now finds himself tied for 11th in the Formula 1 standings through three Grand Prix weekends, and he's tied with Isack Hadjar, the driver he replaced upon Hadjar's move to Red Bull.
He is ultimately aiming to do what Hadjar did a year ago with VCARB and score an upset podium finish as a rookie. But at the moment, he's more focused on the process.
"It's hard to know just because these cars are so different now," he responded, when asked which tracks should best suit the strengths of himself and the team. "So there’s a massive development race, and things are always changing. It’s hard to really know what tracks are going to come in our favor and which aren’t.
"In the end, I’m not really thinking too much about the outcome, let’s say. I’m focused on myself. There’s a lot I can still work on. There’s a lot to learn, so I’m just focused on trying to improve every weekend and doing as best as I can. If I do that well, then the outcome will sort of figure itself out. It’s not really something I’m consciously thinking about."
He understands the challenges of the new car following Formula 1's offseason regulations overhaul, and while he doesn't have race day experience in the old car to compare to, like the other 21 drivers on this year's grid do, it's just as much as an adjustment for him.
"It is my first experience of a Formula 1 car, but in the end, I wouldn’t really say it’s an advantage because it’s very different for all of us," he noted. "What the guys were used to all the previous years is what I’ve grown up with in karting, in F4, F3, F2. I think it’s been a challenge for all of us drivers and teams to get up to speed with.
"But it’s been fun. There are things that are different, and obviously we’re working very closely with the FIA to get the balance right on everything. But I’ve enjoyed it. It's been a new challenge, and I think I’ve enjoyed driving it. I think it’s been positive for the fans as well so far."
While opinions have been split about the racing under the new regulations, Lindblad is learning to embrace the challenge, just as he did when he had his first opportunities to drive other cars as he climbed through the ranks.
"I’d say probably the most fun was the F3 car, and probably the F2 car was a bit more difficult," he recalled. "The old F3 that I drove, which was the generation from 2019, I drove that in 2024 and that was really fun. That was a really cool car. It was very light and it had a lot of downforce, so almost what we were doing with our inputs was quite similar to F1. Obviously we were going slower, but we were turning in flat into a lot of the high-speed corners, which was pretty nuts."
Lindblad embracing VCARB's Mobil partnership
Since March 2025, ExxonMobil expanded its partnership within Racing Bulls to provide cutting-edge fuel technology and on-site engineering expertise, giving the team the ultimate testbed to accelerate product development for everyday mobility.
"I’ve known about the partnership from before, but now being in the Formula 1 team is my first time sort of learning more about the partnership," Lindblad said. "Mobil is the fuels partner, and especially now this year with these new cars, new engines, it’s been a massive benefit and support to have them on board."
As a part of their latest activation in the buildup to the Miami Grand Prix weekend, Mobil invited race fans to get behind the wheel in official race simulators to see if they could beat Lindblad's lap time to win $1,000 in Mobil gift cards and autographed team merchandise.
"The relationship’s been amazing," he continued. "It’s been really enjoyable for me just to learn more about it. With these new engines, to have that support, to have that sort of innovation, wanting to nail everything right, really trying to look for all the little details in performance that Mobil are really keen to do has been a massive help in making sure that the first Red Bull engine that we’ve had this year has been working well."
The benefits don't end with the F1 team, either.
"The same experts are working on our fuel as the fuel in the pump that you can pick up at the station, which is pretty cool for everyone."
The ongoing Mobil partnership is all a part of the broader experience – and responsibility – of being a Formula 1 driver, and just as he's loved every minute of the journey, he's loving every minute of being at the top so far.
"Since I started this journey when I was five, I always sort of dreamed of being in Formula 1, and I always believed I could," he said. "So I wouldn’t really say there was a moment where it felt more 'real' because I guess that was always what I had in my head. That was always what I was working towards.
"Every time I came to the track, it was never really a hobby for me. I was always there to learn, to improve, to get better because I wanted to be in Formula 1. For sure, there were moments along the way that helped. For example, signing with the Red Bull Junior program. That was a big moment in my career that helped me know that I was on track. But it wasn’t really something I thought about, let’s say, if I had the ability for it. I was just focused on myself and learning and improving."
AppleTV is set to provide live coverage of the Miami Grand Prix from Miami International Autodrome beginning at 3:55 p.m. ET this Sunday, May 3.