Kieran is a freelance Formula 1 journalist for GPblog, covering breaking news, live race blogs and feature content across the F1 calendar. An NQJ-qualified journalist with more than a decade of experience, he has previously written for publications including MailOnline, the Manchester Evening News and the Eastern Daily Press.
Arvid Lindblad will take a new power unit for today’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix after a failure forced him to stop during qualifying at Interlagos, GPblog can confirm.
The FIA has yet to confirm whether the change will result in a penalty for the Racing Bulls driver. Lindblad qualified 14th and is listed 12th on the provisional starting grid after penalties for other drivers.
Lindblad was told to pull over at Turn 5 during Q2, cutting short a session in which he felt he had the pace to fight for a strong qualifying position. Team-mate Liam Lawson went on to qualify fifth in the wet and is due to start on the second row after penalties for George Russell and Charles Leclerc.
Lindblad rues ‘lost opportunity’ in São Paulo
Speaking after qualifying, Lindblad praised Lawson’s performance but admitted he was frustrated that he had missed the chance to build on a promising start in Q1.
ADVERTISEMENT
“I was feeling good. I was enjoying myself,” he said. “I really genuinely feel that I could have done something pretty good today. It just feels like a lost opportunity, and that’s honestly why I’m just a bit disheartened."
Asked whether his pace in the wet gave him encouragement for the race, Lindblad pointed to how well the Racing Bulls car had performed in both conditions.
“The car was good. I mean, it’s good in all conditions, all tracks, short run, long run, wet, dry,” he said. “It’s a testament to the team that they’ve built an incredibly robust package that has helped us to be in this position now, P5 in the championship.”
Don’t miss GPblog in Google
Mark us as a preferred source and our articles will appear more often at the top of Top Stories.
Add as a preferred / source on Google