Racing Bulls impressed by 'calm' and 'professional' Lindblad as Permane explains similarities to Hadjar

Racing Bulls’ leadership team have praised Arvid Lindblad for his “calm” and “professional” approach during the Barcelona Shakedown, with Team Principal Alan Permane admitting that the rookie’s attitude reminds him of Isack Hadjar at the start of last season.

After joining the squad for their livery launch in January, Lindblad gained his initial mileage of the 2026 car during the event in Barcelona, putting in laps during Day 3 and Day 4 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

When quizzed at the end of the week on how impressed he had been by the 18-year-old both on and off the track, Permane answered: “Very impressed with both. He’s very calm, he’s very cool – nothing seems to faze him.

“He’s a little bit like I described Isack last year – he just wants to learn, he just wants to take in as much information as he can. He’s asking lots and lots of questions, he’s asking lots of advice – how should he do this, how should he do that?

“And then of course we’re helping him all the way. The most important thing – the pace – it looks like it’s there. The two guys are very similar, so so far so good.”

Chief Technical Officer Tim Goss gave a similar assessment when asked earlier in the week for his take on how Lindblad was settling in, having praised the youngster for how he was handling the 2026 car – made to new technical regulations – so far.

“He’s really calm, really professional, feedback is really straightforward,” said Goss. “For someone so young, it’s really, really impressive. 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 grips with the balance of the car, his feedback has just been really simple, really clear, so [we’re] really, really impressed with him.”

Lindblad and Racing Bulls team mate Liam Lawson will next get behind the wheel of their new challenger when pre-season testing gets underway in Bahrain, with the first test running from February 11-13 while a second takes place across February 18-20.