Lindblad, great debut
The latest gem of the Red Bull Academy wants to show immediately what he’s made of. After finishing Melbourne FP1 in the top-5, Arvid Lindblad was four-tenths faster than his Racing Bulls teammate Liam Lawson and also finished ahead of Isack Hadjar (who drives for Red Bull), but in Australia he also made headlines for an incident that occurred in the pit lane.
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At the start of FP2, which he finished in eighth place, the Briton with Swedish and Indian roots did not lift his foot in front of George Russell, who wanted to slowly enter the pit fast lane before starting his lap. Lindblad, knowing he had priority over his much more highly-rated compatriot, drove straight through, damaging the front wing of the Mercedes driver, who was forced to return to the pits.
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The video
This is the video published by F1.
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The race stewards agreed with Lindblad: “He was in the queue while Russell was waiting to enter the fast lane, with a small part protruding into the fast lane. Appendix L, Chapter IV, of the FIA International Sporting Code, and the Race Director’s notes at point 15 give priority to cars already in the fast lane. Russell could only have entered the fast lane if there was adequate space in the line and without unnecessarily hindering cars already in the fast lane.
It is clear, in this case, that there was no such space and that the collision was caused by Russell“. Consequently, #63 was given the first reprimand of the 2026 World Championship.
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