Arvid Linblad: When the student surpasses the teacher

In his first qualifying session at the track, Arvid Linblad pulled off a surprise by beating Max Verstappen and securing tenth place. It was a performance that put the young Racing Bulls rookie in the spotlight.

The weekend had gotten off to a rough start for Arvid Linblad, however. A gearbox failure and some technical issues during free practice had complicated his preparations. But thanks to his team's hard work, the British driver regained confidence in his car and delivered an impressive performance.

“I'm very happy with the result. It hasn't been an easy week, but the team did a fantastic job of giving me a car I felt confident in,” he said. And his Q2 performance lived up to expectations, as the newest addition to the Red Bull family even eliminated the great Max Verstappen by beating his lap time in the final seconds of Q2. 

“I don't know what to expect”

Looking ahead to tomorrow, the young driver remains realistic. Especially since his lack of track time during practice is hampering his race preparation. “I haven't done any long runs, so I don't know what to expect, but I'll analyze the data. I hope to get a good start, complete a strong first lap, and be well-positioned after that.”

His goal will be to close in on Gabriel Bortoleto's Audi and, why not, Isack Hadjar's Red Bull, all while keeping an eye on Verstappen, who is hampered but still formidable. “We did better than we hoped today. I'm focusing on tomorrow to score some points,” he explains.

Arvid Linblad's impressive performance shows that Red Bull's future may lie with new stars. While he can savor this promising qualifying session, the real battle begins tomorrow, right from the first corner.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Well done, Arvid 👏<br><br>Another impressive qualifying from Lindblad <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/F1?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#F1</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/JapaneseGP?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#JapaneseGP</a> <a href="https://t.co/vsQT31SzIZ">pic.twitter.com/vsQT31SzIZ</a></p>— Formula 1 (@F1) <a href="https://twitter.com/F1/status/2037813587066880144?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 28, 2026</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>