Lindblad also sacrificed much of his social life pursuing his dream, which impacted his relationships with fellow pupils.
“In the beginning I was maybe the weird kid that wasn’t there that much, even sometimes missing some Fridays [travelling to races], so it was maybe quite hard for my peers to understand,” he said.
“I would get almost picked on because of that, but as I’ve got older and some of my peers and those around me at school started to acknowledge I was maybe quite good, some of them have got behind me and now I almost have support from some of them.”
That support was evident during the recent sprint races when he received many messages of encouragement from schoolmates and even a couple of them watching him race.
Lindblad is now fully focused on repeating his early F3 sprint successes across the rest of the season, starting at Italy’s Imola track in May.
Current F1 drivers Leclerc, Esteban Ocon, Lance Stroll, Pierre Gasly, Logan Sargeant and Oscar Piastri have all raced for Prema, along with Ferrari and Haas reserve driver Bearman and Mercedes reserve Mick Schumacher – so could Lindblad join them soon?
“There hasn’t been any discussion of that at the moment, as far as I’m aware – I’m still very young and very inexperienced. I think it’s all going to be down to my results and if I continue to perform,” he said.
“From an early age it’s been all about Formula 1 – I’ve almost seen all other routes as a bit of a step down.
“F1 is the pinnacle of motorsport and I haven’t seen anything else that I’ve been attracted to.”
Listen to the full interview with Arvid Lindblad between 18:00 and 19:00 BST on Monday, 29 April on BBC Local Radio across the South East or on BBC Sounds.
