Written by Vyas Ponnuri
Few people in motorsport find themselves in the sort of purple patch Prema Racing's Arvid Lindblad finds himself in right now. The Red Bull junior has emerged the talk of the town, after sweeping the proceedings at his home race in Silverstone this weekend.
Lindblad's stellar Silverstone showing saw him dominate the sprint race late on Saturday, winning out by six seconds from VAR's Noel Leon after 18 laps of racing, while he braved out the British weather and the changing nature of the race to find himself high up in the pecking order as the track dried out.
Thanks to the rain easing out, the Prema racer found himself climbing back up the order, moving up to second behind fellow home hero Callum Voisin, who had been duelling for the lead in the early stages of the race. The duo had been 21st and 22nd at one point, and now found themselves first and second.
It left a grandstand finish as the 22-lap race headed into its final stages, with Lindblad chasing down Voisin for outright victory on track, while the Alpine-liveried Prema Racing car of Gabriele Mini loomed large in his mirrors.
With the Rodin ahead hit with a ten-second penalty for overtaking Max Esterson's Jenzer off the track at turn three earlier in the race, Lindblad wasn't compelled to get past his compatriot ahead to take victory. All he had to do was hang back and complete the race ahead of his teammate Mini, something he duly did.
Heading into this weekend, no British driver had won a Formula 3 race at Silverstone, be it a sprint or a feature race. Now, Lindblad hadn't just done it once, he'd repeated the feat only a few hours after his Saturday heroics.
Having stood firm after battling with Jenzer's Matias Zagazeta and Leon's VAR in a three-wide battle at turn one on lap one, Lindblad held firm as the race progressed, before easing ahead of the rest, stretching the gap to over six seconds ahead of Leon in the final few laps of the race, to take victory in a delayed sprint.
It's always a special moment for a driver to win a race at home, let alone do it twice in the same weekend, having never raced at the track before his Formula 3 season. Lindblad was delighted to win around Silverstone, remarking how he hadn't raced on home soil in six years.
"Super cool to win at Silverstone, you know. I haven't raced here in England since 2018," Lindblad responded to DIVEBOMB after his sprint victory.
"Coming back here, this was the race I was most excited for this season," the Red Bull junior said. "To have a victory here (at Silverstone) in front of my family was very nice," he remarked, emotional as he shared the joys of winning at home with those who had supported him all along.
Along with victory came 11 championship points, elevating Lindblad to third in the championship standings after the sprint race. Only 20 points adrift of then championship leader Luke Browning, the Prema racer could be considered a championship contender, with only three further weekends to go.
Lindblad, however, remained cautious about considering himself a championship contender, looking to take the season one race at a time, and not think too much about the championship.
"It's like I've said before, we've had strong races. But, being a rookie, I didn't go into the year looking for a championship. It's still the same approach I have now, just going to focus on it race-by-race, and we'll see where we end up." the 16-year old mentioned.
While Lindblad wouldn't have put himself into championship contention on Saturday, there's no doubt he is firmly in the hot seat for the title now, elevating himself to second in the standings after more glory in the feature race, sitting only six points off teammate Mini with three weekends to go.
The slew of records and feats he achieved didn't stop there. With four wins so far, Lindblad also puts himself into the all-time winners list in Formula 3.
He shares the overall record alongside a number of names, including Frederik Vesti, 2021 Formula 3 champion Dennis Hauger, Alpine academy driver Jack Doohan, and the two Williams juniors Zak O'Sullivan and Franco Colapinto, who graduated up to Formula 2 in 2024.
While all these names have raced multiple seasons in the series, Lindblad is only one victory away from taking the all-time victory record in the series. While his compatriots have completed 30 races or more before achieving the feat, the Red Bull junior has matched their tally in only 14 races, a staggering feat speaking volumes of his talent and consistency.
Lindblad has been talked up as the next big talent waiting in the Red Bull wings after triple world champion Max Verstappen, even as he had just stepped into karts. Such is his talent, and his display this year just repaid the faith and backing of the senior team all through his racing career.
There's also the small feat of the Prema racer being the best performing Red Bull junior in the series, comfortably ahead of the likes of Campos' Ollie Goethe and MP Motorsport's Tim Tramnitz, his fellow rookie this season. All at the young and tender age of 16.
Irrespective of how his season pans out, there's no doubt Arvid Lindblad's Formula 3 season will go down in the history books as one of the finest the series has ever seen.
Formula 3 returns two weeks later at the Hungaroring. Will Lindblad continue his brilliant form and stake claim on the standings? Tune in to find out next weekend.
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