Arvid Lindblad secured the Formula Regional Oceania championship title with two races left to go. Lindblad spoke to Feeder Series and other selected media at Highlands Motorsport Park about his dominant season in the championship. Feeder Series also spoke to his race engineer, Antonio Ortiz, on his insights about Lindblad’s successes. 

By Kaylene Lau

When Lindblad was announced to be competing in the championship this year, he was already a clear title favourite. A strong first season in F3 in 2024 saw him become the series’ youngest-ever winner on debut, take victory in both the sprint and feature races on home soil at Silverstone and finish fourth in the standings. He secured a graduation to F2 with Campos Racing in 2025 and will partner fellow Red Bull junior Pepe Martí for the season. 

Coming into FR Oceania, Lindblad faced higher expectations than most. The 17-year-old has been frequently touted as a prospect for an F1 seat in the next few years. FR Oceania was not only considered preparation for Lindblad’s upcoming F2 season but was also an opportunity for Lindblad to earn 18 FIA Super Licence points if he won the championship. 

Lindblad learned he would race in FR Oceania during F2’s post-season test. “It was quite last minute,” Lindblad told Feeder Series. “I was in Abu Dhabi in the middle of December, and Dr. [Helmut] Marko told me he wanted me to have enough Super Licence points at the start of the F1 season, so that’s the main reason.” 

Drivers need a minimum of 40 points to obtain a Super Licence, which is required to compete in F1. With 18 points from winning the FR Oceania championship on top of his 25 from 2023 and 2024, he has accumulated enough points and is now eligible for one.

Heading into Highlands, Lindblad had a 59-point advantage in the FR Oceania standings over second-placed Nikita Johnson. He knew he could take the title, his first in single-seaters, in race one if he finished ahead of both Johnson and third-placed Zack Scoular.

Starting from second on the grid, Lindblad secured the championship in the first race by finishing second, giving him an unassailable 74-point lead. Patrick Heuzenroeder won the race, while Michael Shin, Lindblad’s teammate at M2 Competition, rounded out the podium.

“After race three [in Teretonga], I put myself in a very comfortable position in the championship but really had one hand on the trophy. There was a bit of talk about the championship before race one, but in my mind, I just wanted to try to win the race.”

Near the end of the race, Shin began to close on Lindblad and put on pressure for second. The Korean driver finished just 0.351 seconds behind.

“I was slow at the end of the race, so I was trying to figure out what I can do to get to the end and just survive,” Lindblad said. “Michael did put me under a bit of pressure, but I was having a lot of my own issues at the time anyways.” 

In the reverse-grid race two, Lindblad was involved in a collision with Heuzenroeder, Shin and Matías Zagazeta and ended up in the wall. This marked the first time he failed to finish a race all season.

The collision left his car too damaged to be fixed in time before the grand prix less than five hours later, meaning Lindblad would have to race in a spare car. 

With the championship title secured, Lindblad was allowed to race in the New Zealand Grand Prix with the number 1 on his car. If he won the race, he would become the first driver in series history to win five feature races in a row.

But Lindblad had a difficult task – he was starting fourth on the grid and racing in a spare car. 

He ultimately finished third in the race, stepping on the podium for the 12th time during the FR Oceania season and ending the season with a total of 370 points. Will Brown won the grand prix, while Scoular finished second in both the race and the championship with 314 points. 

At every round this season, Lindblad has stood on the podium at least twice. He won six times, four of them in feature races, and was the first driver to win four feature races in a row in series history. He also became the seventh drivers’ champion in a row to have raced for M2 Competition, who have dominated the championship in recent years and defended the teams’ title.

Ortiz, Lindblad’s race engineer at M2 Competition told Feeder Series that it was ‘really good’ to have worked with him over the last five weeks. 

“He’s a really demanding driver, and our relationship has been developing after every event and it’s been getting better and better,” Ortiz said. “He really likes to work to the detail, and so do I. So we’ve pushed each other quite hard.” Ortiz said. 

Ortiz highlighted Lindblad’s determination in “pushing really hard to improve the car at the same time as pushing really hard to improve himself” as key to his dominance throughout the championship.

““It’s the key to keep winning,” he said.

“When we were dominant, we were not happy enough. It was not good enough and we kept pushing, so that’s why we kept moving forward and forward.” 

Lindblad only missed the podium in three races of 15 all season, but Ortiz said there were challenges in several more sessions. 

“There’s more than three or four sessions that were not good at all from our side,” he added. “There were some corners that were harder for him to get, some things of the car that was harder for us, but we worked really hard in the end. I think all the qualifyings and nearly all the races have been really, really good from both sides.” 

Three F1 drivers won championships while racing with M2 under the series’ guise as the Toyota Racing Series: Lance Stroll in 2015, Lando Norris in 2016 and Liam Lawson in 2019. With enough points for an FIA Super Licence after his FR Oceania championship win, Lindblad is now eligible to join that list of drivers in the near future. 

Ortiz described Lindblad as a who would ‘shine’ in the future. 

“He’s really good,” Ortiz said. “It all depends on a little bit of the next year in F2 or maybe the following one, but I think [he’s] going to be a clear contender to going into Formula 1.” 

Much like Ortiz, Lindblad knows his upcoming season in F2 is the most important campaign in determining whether he gets to race in F1. Being the newly crowned FR Oceania champion isn’t changing Lindblad’s approach to his upcoming F2 season. 

“F2 is very different to here,” Lindblad said. “You’re on the F1 stage and it’s different, but I’m going into the F2 season not really with too many expectations but knowing that I want to perform well.

“I really want to try and do a good job there because as amazing as the championship has been so far here – I’ve really enjoyed it – the F2 season is what’s going to decide whether I’m in Formula 1 or not, so that’s the biggest focus.” 

Header photo credit: Toyota Gazoo Racing NZ