Racing Bulls CEO Peter Bayer is convinced that it has another "raw diamond" in its hands it can turn into F1's latest "crown jewel".
The team, which Bayer has described as "an incubator for talent", will nurture 18-year-old Arvid Lindblad over the coming season after handing him a promotion following an F2 campaign in which he finished only sixth.
The British driver will partner New Zealand's Liam Lawson at Racing Bulls after Isack Hadjar was promoted to Red Bull at the end of last season to partner Max Verstappen following a successful rookie campaign with the 'junior' team.
Lindblad is another product from the successful Red Bull Academy production line, with Bayer seeing him very much in the same mould as Hadjar.
"He's the same raw diamond, like Isack," said Bayer, speaking to RacingNews365 in an exclusive interview at the end of last year. "We see similar raw pace, similar mental capacity to analyse, to understand.
"He was with me in Qatar. He sat next to me during the race, and honestly, I was deeply impressed by how he kept anticipating what was happening. He was very calm, very focused, very sharp. He's got everything he needs.
"He is somebody who can quickly adapt to a track, even if he doesn't know it, and he has fantastic race pace.
"We're all really looking forward to working with him, to take that raw diamond, to polish it, and by the end of the season, we will have another crown jewel."
Racing Bulls go into the new year after a relatively successful 2025, in which the team finished a strong sixth in the constructors' championship.
Bayer feels it was as good as it could have wished for at the start of the season.
"It was our target," he said. "P6, that's probably what we can achieve as a team with the setup we have, the facilities we have, the team we have, and at the same time, with our mission of being an incubator for talent, bringing through young drivers.
"So P6 is something that we are happy with, and the shareholders are happy with. Every single team member worked for that, finding the last bit of energy to make sure we secured it."
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