Arvid Lindblad unsure if he's "entirely ready" for F1…

Arvid Lindblad admits he’s unsure if he is “entirely ready” to contest his rookie Formula 1 campaign in 2026 - but he is certainly gathering praise from Racing Bulls.

The 18-year-old will enter F1 with the Italian outfit this year and conducted his first set of track action in the private Barcelona shakedown on Wednesday.

It is understood that Lindblad completed at least 42 laps, but caused a red flag at one point with a presumed technical issue on the VCARB 03 - so nothing to do with the young Briton.

Regardless, a lot is being asked of Lindblad considering his age and how he was fast-tracked through the junior categories by Red Bull, having joined its junior programme in 2021.

So, when asked by F1 TV how prepared he feels for 2026, Lindblad, who arrives off the back of finishing sixth in F2 last year, said: “I don't know. I mean, I've got a lot to learn. If I'm entirely ready, I don't know.

“It's not really something I think about. I'm more thinking about how can I try to get more ready. What's the things that can help me learn to be in as best position as possible when we get to Melbourne.

“So, I'm just focused on working hard with the team on the sim here at the track with the engineers, just trying to learn as much as I can, be a bit of a sponge on that side. And yeah, then we'll see.”

Arvid Lindblad, Racing Bulls (Photo by: Formula 1)

Lindblad’s rookie campaign coincides with F1 introducing a new set of regulations, which changes both the car's chassis and power unit ahead of the season opener in Australia on 6-8 March.

While Lindblad was perhaps more reserved in his assessment of how ready he feels, technical officer Tim Goss was full of praise for his driver.

“He's really calm, really professional - feedback is really, really straightforward,” said Goss. “For someone so young, it's really, really impressive and his session in the car has really just been about getting to grips with this breed of car.

“They're very, very different, not just the general handling of the car but the way you've just got to manage the energy and the energy management and he's just been really, really cool, calm, professional.

“As we're getting to the grips with the balance of the car, his feedback has just been really simple, really clear, so really, really impressed with him.”

Red Bull Ford Powertrains (Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool)

The new season will also see Racing Bulls, and sister squad Red Bull, compete with an in-house power unit for the first time since their respective F1 debuts in 2006 and 2005.

Although it has been expected that they would struggle to begin with, considering the strong engines that belong to the likes of Mercedes, many have been impressed with the reliability of the power unit this week.

Goss is one of them, saying: “It's been a really, really impressive job by Red Bull-Ford Powertrains. To come as a complete newcomer to Formula 1 and on your very first day, then to put nearly 200 laps under your belt, it's easy to take this level of reliability for granted, but it can't be underestimated what they've achieved.

“The driveability is fantastic. The difficulty that ourselves and probably all the other teams are coming to grips with is just how the energy management changes a little bit from lap to lap, from corner to corner, and just trying to understand how best to tune all of that and for the drivers just to get used to it, really.”