Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Britain, 2024 — Photo: © IMAGO

GPFans Opinion

Hamilton who? ANOTHER British record-breaker makes history at Silverstone

The 2024 British GP was an amazing time for a new home hero to emerge

Jim Kimberley

Tuesday 9 July 2024 12:57

The 2024 British Grand Prix weekend was an unquestionable success story for the future of motorsport in the UK.

Elder statesman Lewis Hamilton took a record-breaking victory, but he shared the lead - and limelight - with Britain's waiting-in-line drivers, George Russell and Lando Norris.

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This trio locked out the top three spots in qualifying, and, rewinding to even earlier in the weekend, we had confirmation that Ollie Bearman would bring another Union flag to F1 in 2025, too.

It's easy to see why Brits feel optimistic, but all of this overlooks another brilliant British achievement at Silverstone, the double victory of 16-year-old Arvid Lindblad.

Lewis Hamilton won the British Grand Prix

Arvid Lindblad secured a double victory at Silverstone

Who is Arvid Lindblad?

Lindblad is a Red Bull Junior Team driver and the youngest racer in the third tier.

He won the opening sprint race of the F3 2024 season back in Bahrain and secured his first feature race victory at the start of this triple-header in Spain.

Lindblad's Silverstone double-dip has taken him to a record-equalling four F3 wins in just 14 races.

Putting that into context, no other driver has secured four F3 wins in their rookie season.

Zak O'Sullivan, the previous fastest driver to get there, took 32 races to do so, and Lindblad is only the sixth driver to reach that milestone.

Is Lindblad Red Bull's best junior?

You won't be alone if you're unfamiliar with the Lindblad name.

Much of the feeder series attention has focused on Mercedes' Andrea Kimi Antonelli since his Formula 2 promotion.

Bearman, too, captured the imagination of many when he drove Carlos Sainz's Ferrari to points in Saudi Arabia in the months preceding his 2025 Haas contract announcement.

Red Bull, however, have had their F2 and F3 ranks looking a little sparse since Liam Lawson's last Formula 2 season in 2022.

Isack Hadjar has arguably been the lead contender for usurping Lawson's chance at RB, but the Frenchman has struggled to find the consistency to fight for a title until recently.

Lindblad, however, is a long-time member of Red Bull's driver programme, having first joined in 2021 when he was just 13 years old.

He took top-tier karting victories but only made the full-time step to single-seater racing last year in Italian F4.

That he is now racing against a talented field of F3 drivers and beating nearly all of them is telling of his potential as he sits P2 in the standings.

Team-mates Dino Beganovic, 20, and Gabriele Mini, 19, began their single-seater racing careers in 2020 and are barely keeping up.

Should Lindblad win the title, and he's just six points from the top, he'll follow in the footsteps of Charles Leclerc, George Russell, and Oscar Piastri by becoming a rookie champion at this level of racing.

Dino Beganovic has been in racing longer than Lindblad

How Lindblad made history

Lindblad qualified P11 to take a front-row start in the sprint race, and he wasted no time in racing to the lead from his strong start in a three-wide fight at Abbey.

He'd never give up that advantage, stretching the gap to P2 to 6.5 seconds in the 18-lap race - the widest margin anywhere among those who kept it clean.

The feature race was another story, however, and the drama made the F1 British GP look dull by comparison.

Changeable conditions had drivers deliberating whether to start on wets or slicks. With F3 not featuring intermediate tyres or mandated pit stops, making the right call was vital.

Lindblad was one of the few to try the dry tyres and initially dropped through the order in the slippery conditions.

That disadvantage didn't last long, and grip soon came his way, letting him ascend to the podium spots, but even this was a brief respite.

Rain during a safety car period meant he had to hang on to survive on his dry tyres when racing resumed, and he fell to P22, seemingly out of the race.

The tyres came back, though, and so did Lindblad's confidence, and he rocketed up the standings in the final 10 minutes to be P2 while the wet tyre drivers' performance slipped away.

With compatriot Callum Voisin ahead carrying a penalty for an off-track overtake, Lindblad secured his second win in two days, making history in front of his home crowd.

Lewis Hamilton Mercedes Lando Norris George Russell British Grand Prix

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