An electric opening round in Melbourne for Racing Bulls

It’s just over 12 months ago that Visa Cash App Racing Bulls F1 driver Arvid Lindblad was out qualified by two Australian Supercars drivers at the 2025 New Zealand Grand Prix at Highlands Motorsport Park in Cromwell. Will Brown went on to win the GP with Lindblad third behind Kiwi Zack Scoular.

Fast-forward to 2026 and the Australian F1 Grand Prix over the weekend in which Lindblad made a stellar start to his F1 career. He was solid throughout practice and qualifying. He had an ‘electric’ start from ninth almost breaking into the top three in the opening laps and eventually finished in eighth which is probably where the Racing Bull’s speed is in reality.

Lawson did nothing wrong. His performance throughout the weekend was solid. Unfortunately his poor start on Sunday when the lights when out saw him drop from eighth to 18th so it was more a matter of catch up, eventually finishing 13th and outside the points.

**Liam Lawson on track during the F1 Grand Prix of Australia at Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit – (Photo by Joe Portlock/Getty Images)**

“Firstly, a huge congratulations to Arvid; he had great race and a near-perfect weekend which resulted in very well-deserved points on his debut,” said Team Principal Alan Permane. “We weren’t quite quick enough to keep Bearman behind, but the car worked extremely well; we just need to look at our Quali-to-race pace and see if there’s something we could have done better to improve on race day. Liam had an unfortunate issue at the start with a lack of power but did his best to manage the situation.

“A great result for the whole team with a lot of hard work put in over the winter and we ended with a good reward for that today. A special thanks to Red Bull Ford Powertrains for a really fantastic race weekend, we look forward to continuing to learn each weekend on how we can improve in every aspect and continue fighting for points.”

Overall, it was a slightly bizarre opening round to the 2026 F1 season and the introduction of a new chassis and powertrain. It was unpredictable yet arguably successful. Let’s say that the jury is out on where the F1 establishment has moved to in the electrification of an established formula.