Arvid Lindblad is testing the world’s shortest Fiat Panda, and during one attempt, the car suddenly goes much higher than the Formula 1 rookie expected …
Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad has used some of his time off from Formula 1 to test drive the world’s shortest Fiat Panda in a recent YouTube video. The 19-year-old appeared recently in a video by the Italian car-modification channel Carmagheddon, getting behind the wheel of an extremely modified Fiat Panda.
During the video, Lindblad nearly caused the vehicle – which holds a Guinness World Record – to roll over, but managed to save the situation at the last moment. The Briton also got to test a motorised sofa on an improvised track, which included, amongst other things, a figure of eight and a small hairpin bend.
“I have to be honest: when I sat on it for the first time, I was quite scared,” says Lindblad of the sofa. “Before driving it, I was more nervous than I was before driving a Formula 1 car. I’m calmer in practice and even in qualifying than I was whilst driving that.”
“Once I’d got used to it, things got better. It’s not easy. It’s quite difficult to drive, and I never thought I’d end up driving a sofa in my life.”
Next up was the tiny Fiat Panda. The challenge was to see who could pull off the highest wheelie in the Panda. “You told me beforehand that it’s impossible to flip it, so I was extremely confident,” says Lindblad. “I had my first go and then said: ‘OK, I’m driving so slowly, I need to start pushing it a bit more.’”
“On the last attempt, I went a bit higher than expected. I looked down at the ground. It was almost vertical – it was mad. I think I’ll stop now, otherwise I’ll end up rolling it, but I really enjoyed it.”
This unusual excursion off the track comes during a strong rookie season for Lindblad. He currently sits eleventh in the drivers’ standings with 31 points. By way of comparison, his team-mate Liam Lawson, who recently stepped in for the injured Isack Hadjar at Red Bull, is ninth with 59 points.