Formula 1 saw Arvid Lindblad as one of the highlights on Friday at the 2026 Canadian GP. The Racing Bulls rookie secured a spot in SQ3 and will start from ninth position in the Sprint in Montreal, while Liam Lawson missed the session due to technical problems.
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Lindblad showed speed from TL1, finishing eighth, and confirmed the good performance in the Sprint Qualifying by advancing into the top 10. The British driver highlighted the positive impact of the new update package brought by the team to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
“I am satisfied with our Sprint Qualifying. The pace was better than we expected and the team did an amazing job,” said Lindblad. “We brought a new update this weekend and it is clearly working very well.”
The driver also emphasized the difficulty of facing Montreal in a Sprint weekend right in his debut season in Formula 1. “It’s a tough track for a rookie, especially in a Sprint format, so I’m very happy with our performance, even feeling there was still a bit more to extract in SQ3,” he added.
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On the other side of the garage, Lawson had a complicated Friday. The New Zealander completed only five laps in TL1 before suffering a technical problem that forced the power unit change, preventing his participation in the Sprint Qualifying.
“It was a frustrating Friday because I practically had no track time. In a Sprint weekend, TL1 is very important,” explained Lawson. “I will need to chase back tomorrow.”
Racing Bulls’ track engineering chief, Mattia Spini, praised Lindblad’s performance and regretted the problems faced by Lawson. According to him, the aerodynamic update brought “an important step in performance,” while the team now focuses on scoring points in the Sprint and recovering Lawson for the rest of the weekend in Canada.
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