Last Updated on March 10 2026, 11:09 pm

The opening round to the 2026 Formula One season was chaotic for the drivers, teams and fans alike. All new cars and powertrains saw multiple breakdowns, drivers careering off into the barriers and a shakeup of the pecking order which has dominated the sport since 2001.

Red Bull Racing have promoted Isack hadjar alongside Max Verstappen for the season to be his fourth team mate in just three years. Hadjar is highly rated after his rookie year which saw him make final qualifying a remarkable 15 times, scored points in ten Grand Prix, finishing ahead in the drivers’ championship of his experienced team mate Liam Lawson and claimed his first podium in Zandvoort.

The French-Algerian driver in Melbourne did not appear phased by the fact he was now in Formula One’s hot seat, which ended the career of Yuki Tsunoda and sent Sergio Perez into the wilderness for a year. In fact while his four times champion team mate, Max Verstappen was sent hurtling into the barrier at turn one during his first qualifying run, Hadjar was the best of the rest come the end of the session and started the Grand Prix in third place.

 

 

 

Hadjar ran out of battery otherwise P1 at the start

His Sunday was though to end prematurely on lap 10, when his gearbox disintegrated with the grating sound of a bag of spanners being shaken. At the start of the race, Hadjar shot off the line superbly and was set to take the lead from George Russell when his battery pack failed to kick in, allowing Charles Leclerc to sneak through on the inside.

“The start was amazing,” the Frenchman reported to Sky F1. “I mean, I started the race with no battery. I had a very good launch and was taking the lead easily. So at least that’s a good point of the day. We had a very good start. Once I thought, ‘Oh, I’m going to take the lead’, but then no more power. So that was great!” Yet it was another Red Bull family driver who was to have a stella result in Australia, Arvid Libndblad the only rookie on the grid this season.

The British-Swede Lindblad was the last protoge of the notorious Dr. Helmut Marko’s young driver programme to make it into F1. Now forcibly retired this year, the 82 Austrian may have been watching with a tear of joy in his eye. The only session of the weekend where Arvid was outside the top ten, was in practice three where he finished 11th.

“I think I showed people a bit of what I’m here to do,” Lindblad grinned after the race when speaking to Sky as his first lap prowess proved. Despite cars stopped on the grid, others starting like snails, Lindblad charted a path through the melee to find himself briefly in third, ahead of Lewis Hamilton.

Max Verstappen started Australian Grand Prix with no battery power: What really happened?

 

 

 

Lindblad on Verstappen and Hamilton: “I’m not rolling over and giving them the place”

As the new kid on the block, Arvid has no baggage. These cars are the only F1 machines he has driven. And whilst more experienced drivers struggled with the new controls, Lindblad was away battling wheel to wheel with his all time hero.

“I fell in love with the sport watching Lewis on the TV,” revealed Lindblad, who wasn’t even born when the seven times champion made his F1 debut with McLaren in 2007. “He was a big reason why I wanted to be here today. It was pretty nuts to race with him. There were a lot of pinch-me moments today.”

As the race settled down, it was clear his Racing Bulls car did not have the pace to stay with the leaders, but Lindblad kept racing hard unbowed by the occasion. Come the chequered flag he lost out with his multi-lap battle with fellow Brit Oliver Bearman, but P9 was more than respectable for someone just eighteen years of age.

Despite racing his heroes, Arvid is no starry eyed kid in the F1 sweetsop there’s an edge to his personality which clearly came through. “I have a lot of respect for the senior guys in the sport, but I’m also not going to roll over and give them the place. I’m here to fight. When I’m in the car, I’m a ruthless competitor and I’m going to take every inch I can get and I think I showed that on lap one.”

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Verstappen roars in fury at Lindblad

Take note Max Verstappen, here’s one for the future. Although Max had already had an encounter on track with the Red Bull protoge. As the stricken Cadillac of Valtteri Bottas came to a standstill, both Verstappen and Lindblad elected to stop for fresh rubber.

Ahead on the road after Verstappen was forced to start P20 after his car failure in qualifying, Lindblad was just ahead on the road. He appeared to hold the four times champion up as they approached the pit lane and again when they slowed for the line which delimits the pit lane speeding limit.

“Fucking brake checking!” Verstappen roared over team radio.“Repeat that, Max,” requested his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase replied. “Got fucking brake-checked the whole pit lane,” Verstappen repeated. “Copy that, thank you,” resounded GP.

As if to make matters worse, the Racing Bulls delivered a lightening stop for Lindblad, which saw Vertsppen’s mechanics forced to hold him in his box to allow the youngster by after the tyre changes. Back on track behind the virtual safety car, Max was forced to fume for lap after lap until the track was declared clear.

Australian GP: Exciting – or Whacky Races, as perilous dangers become apparent

 

 

 

‘No pressure’ says F1’s 2026 rookie

Within a few turns, Verstappen was ahead as the superiority of the RB22 was evident for all to see. Yet Lindblad has made his mark in the Red Bull family, both in terms of performance and his readiness to take on the greats of the sport in wheel to wheel combat from day one.

Arvid Lindblad was asked on Sky F1 by the 2009 F1 champion Jenson Button how he’d handled the pressure approaching week one of his F1 career. “Coming into this weekend, people said there was going to be a lot of pressure and this and that, but I’m here for myself. I worked my whole life to get here to Formula 1. I don’t have to do it for anyone. 

“When I was five years old I had a dream, and my dream was Formula 1. I was living my dream today and I just wanted to do it as well as I possibly could. I’ve had a lot of fun this weekend,” replied Lindblad. Then as if remembering his P’s and Q’s along with his relative lack of experience, the young Brit hastily added, “I’ve done one weekend and I don’t want to talk too much.”

 

 

 

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