The last race of the second stage of the Formula 4 Middle East (UAE4) season, in which Ukrainian driver Alexander Bondarev will participate, will be held on January 25 at 12:15 at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.

Bondarev became the first Ukrainian representative to receive support from the youth program of the Williams Formula 1 team. This is his second full season of open wheel racing.

The qualifying rounds of the stage were held the day before, and then Alexander Bondarev won the pole position. Before the race started, the Ukrainian driver was leading the general classification with 76 points.

Bondarev in the battle for victory in Formula 4. BAE4. Watch LIVE online

In 2026, Formula 1 enters a new regulatory era after four years of ground-effect cars.

Cars will become smaller, lighter and receive new active aerodynamics and, most importantly, new power plants. This attracted the attention of new manufacturers and those striving to become the “queen of motorsport” to the championship.

Following large-scale changes, there was also an update to the composition of the teams. This is especially true for Red Bull, which is making changes to its driver line-up throughout 2025. In the 2026 season, the team will welcome Briton Arvid Lindblad, the only newcomer to the peloton.

Arvid will become the fourth youngest driver in Formula One history and will make his debut for the Racing Bulls at the 2026 Australian Grand Prix, aged 18 years and 7 months.

This article covers everything you need to know about the Red Bull protégé who will join the Formula 1 peloton in 2026.

The beginning of a career and breakthrough in karting

Arvid Lindblad started his kart racing career at the age of five. But the first serious success did not come immediately. He won his first major victory only in 2020, at the age of 11, in the WSK Super Master Series tournament in the OK-J class. This result caught the attention of Red Bull and in 2021 Arvid became part of its driver development academy.

The 2021 season was a turning point for Lindblad: Arvid finished on the podium in every competition he participated in and never fell below third place. His consistency and speed immediately set him apart from his peers and his career began to develop rapidly.

2022 has been a transition phase: Arvid has combined participation in some karting tournaments with preparations for the transition to Formula 4. This caused his results to drop temporarily, but his experience in different series gave him valuable skills and prepared him for new challenges. Their performance in the Junior European series could be described as “galloping across Europe”; fast, intense, but with valuable experience on different tracks and in different conditions.

Formula 4, 3, 2…

2023 was Lindblad’s first full season in Formula 4. He made a strong start to the championship with six wins and ten podiums, placing himself comfortably at the top of the standings at the start of the season. However, the last three stages were much more difficult and Arvid eventually finished third.

The following year Lindblad did not try to regain what was lost, but was immediately promoted to the upper leagues. He competed first in the Regional Formula Middle East and then in the full-fledged Formula 3 championship.

Arvid once again had a chance to fight for the championship and even remained in the top three for a long time, but history repeated itself: he failed to score points in the last six races of the last two rounds and as a result fell from second to fourth place, just a few points behind the leader.

Despite this, Arvid was promoted to Formula 2 again. He trained in regional series and Oceania, and thanks to his successful performance, he won the open wheel championship for the first time, earning enough points to receive a Formula 1 super licence.

Lindblad performed strongly for a rookie in his first season in Formula 2, regularly challenging for the podium and even taking individual wins, but consistency was not yet ideal. But the hard work paid off; He finished sixth overall among 27 pilots.

‘Scandalous’ signature

Reports began to emerge that they were planning to transfer the Briton to Formula 1 for the Racing Bulls team from the middle of the 2025 season. However, the final point on this issue was put forward in a rather chaotic manner.

As mentioned above, Arvid Lindblad rose through the ranks not because Red Bull “pulled him back”, but because of his own pace and talent that allowed him to fight for victories and championships. At the same time, his signing was actually the decision of a man who was sacked at the end of the season.

We are talking about Helmut Marko, the former consultant of Red Bull, responsible for the youth program and the formation of drivers. He was the one who single-handedly made the decision to sign Lindblad. Although a significant portion of the leadership was inclined to take this step, the final decision remained with Marco. During the season he also made a number of high-profile personnel decisions and made controversial statements to the media, which ultimately led to his dismissal.

But for Arvid himself, this is no longer important. He has proven everything with his results on the track and undoubtedly has a great future in motorsport. The 2026 season looks like a good time to make your Formula 1 debut; A year where new rules are in effect and everyone has almost a clean slate.

The Briton’s goals for his first season are simple: not to lose completely to his more experienced team-mate, but to compete and even outperform in some races.

It is also important that the season is more stable than at the beginning. During the team’s first 15-kilometre run in Imola, Lindblad crashed into gravel due to the rear brakes locking up. While he has not gained a reputation as an accident-prone pilot, it is important not to gain such a reputation.

Working on his decline in form at the end of the season remains a challenge; This is a feature that haunts the youth series. However, recent performances in Regional Formula Oceania and Formula 2 show that the first steps towards solving this problem have already been taken.