Red Bull junior prodigy Arvid Lindblad was caught up in a scary crash in the Formula Two sprint race at the Austrian Grand Prix. The Brit was pinched into the middle of three cars on the entry to Turn Three, making contact with Luke Browning and Sami Meguetounif. The incident occurred on the third lap of Saturday’s race as Lindblad put pressure on fellow Brit and Williams academy starlet Browning.
However, unbeknownst to the Red Bull junior driver, Meguetounif was preparing his own move on the inside with an audacious late lunge on the brakes. Lindblad started to turn in his Campos machine, but Meguetounif couldn’t avoid contact. The Frenchman bumped into the right side of his rival’s car and was sent charging across the apex of the corner, where his Trident entered a barrel roll, clearing the roll hoop of Browning’s vehicle on his outside before coming to rest upside down.
The stewards were quick to throw the red flag as the medical vehicles came onto the circuit to remove Meguetounif from his inverted Trident car, and to check on Browning and Lindblad. Max Esterson was also stopped by the incident, but the American racer did not sustain any notable damage. All drivers were noted as being okay.
Aportioning blame for the crash on the radio, Lindblad said: “The guy came out of nowhere. I had no idea he was there.” Meguetounif was less impressed, complaining: “He squeezed me under braking like crazy.”
Discussing the plan for Lindblad, Helmut Marko told Kleine Zeitung: “He spent half a day in the [Racing Bulls] car in Italy on Monday to prepare him. And he will also be in the car for Friday practice at Silverstone. He is characterised by his mental strength and self-confidence, his Swedish-Indian mix is obviously very good for motorsport.
“We are preparing ourselves in case something really happens with Max Verstappen in terms of his penalty points. We currently have two replacement drivers: Lindblad and Ayumu Iwasa, who has overlapping Formula One dates with his commitments in Japan.”
