00:00Oliver Rowland, 2024-25 Formula E world champion and manager of F1 rookie Arvid Lindblad, says
00:07that he's thrilled to see his protege get a seat at the pinnacle of motorsport.
00:12Rowland, who has been in Lindblad's camp for more than a decade, says that the young Brit
00:17deserves his shot, having stepped up to F1 with Red Bull's sister team, Racing Bulls.
00:23Lindblad, who is just 18, is expected to demolish his more experienced teammate Liam Lawson,
00:29who was demoted from Red Bull's top team last year after just two races in Australia and
00:34China.
00:35I mean, I've had Arvid since he was seven years old. He was my first driver in my karting team.
00:42And ever since then, I've kind of looked after him as a mentor, coach and manager. So, yeah,
00:47it's great to see him in F1. He deserves it. He's young. And I'm really excited to head to
00:53the first race in Melbourne.
00:57Cadillac says it wants to earn the respective rivals during its debut season, given the compacted
01:02timeline in getting to the grid, following its approval from F1 to join the sport in November
01:072024. The General Motors brand has had to start from scratch with everything other than the
01:14power units and gearboxes, which it will buy in from Ferrari until it builds its own from
01:192019. The new American squad is moving forward, though, with lots of leading expertise, especially
01:27from its foundation drivers Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas, who are both returning to the grid after a
01:33season on the sidelines and are keen to get started. But while Cadillac is expected to be near the back,
01:40the new operation has taken pride in how it goes racing even from day one.
01:48It was very gratifying in Barcelona that we got a lot of compliments from other teams about our garage
01:53layout, how we prepared the cars and everything like that, said Pat Simmons, Cadillac's engineering
01:59consultant. Spanish Circuit Barcelona has been handed a lifeline with the Mon Melo venue inking F1's first
02:09alternating deal with Belgium's circuit Spa-Francorchamps until 2032.
02:16Barcelona was on the chopping block post-2026, given rival Madrid had signed a deal to host the Spanish Grand
02:23Prix
02:23until 2035 at the Madring circuit around the Ephema Exhibition Centre. But the Catalonian track has since kept its
02:31place on the calendar with races in 2028, 2030 and 2032 to alternate with Belgium, which will host in
02:382026, 2027, 2029 and 2031. F1 is keen for more alternating deals to not just take advantage of surging interest
02:48in hosting races, but for flexibility.
02:55Australian Jack Doohan is pushing flat out for a 2027 return to the F1 grid, with the 23-year-old
03:02hoping to
03:02dovetail his Haas reserve role with a sports car drive to keep himself sharp this season.
03:09Doohan was dropped by Alpine at the start of this year, but he left the grid after Miami 2025, his
03:15seventh start
03:16with the squad, sixth that year, and was replaced by Franco Colopinto. It was a brutal move, but he'd failed
03:23to score
03:23points and crashed the car in Australia and Japan.
03:27To get back to the grid, Doohan switched to Haas as reserve driver, which he hopes, along with a potential
03:33European Le Mans drive to keep his racecraft strong, will earn him a promotion.
03:42My goal is to be in Formula One and to race in Formula One. I've been given that platform to
03:47have a go at with Haas, so I look forward to trying to do that, he said.
Comments