Red Bull prodigy Arvid Lindblad managed to impress the team's motorsport advisor, Dr. Helmut Marko, with his performance in the first free practice session ahead of the Mexico City Grand Prix.
During the initial 60-minute preparation session at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, the British driver of Swedish descent took the wheel of four-time world champion Max Verstappen's car. Lindblad finished the session in sixth place, outpacing his teammate Yuki Tsunoda by 0.093 seconds, a result that doesn't bode well for the Japanese driver fighting to retain his Formula 1 seat.
Beyond his pace, Lindblad also impressed Dr. Marko with his feedback. The Briton was effectively the first driver to test Red Bull's new floor, which will only be available to Verstappen this weekend.
"He did a solid job. The situation was tough for him; everyone was telling him not to make mistakes, not to crash, not to scratch the car, but he handled it. He was the fastest of the rookies, and his feedback was very impressive," Dr. Marko stated.
Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies also expressed his satisfaction with Lindblad's work. The Briton is widely considered a prime candidate for one of the two full-time seats at Racing Bulls next year.
"We made the decision to run Arvid with less fuel. Simply so I wouldn't confuse him with the transition from an emptier to a fuller tank and vice versa, as we traditionally do in the first practice. But he did very, very well. It was difficult for him to get into the car with the new floor. But he did a very good job, and as you can see, his pace wasn't bad, so we have no arguments against him," Mekies commented.