Arvid Lindblad and Liam Lawson on viral budget flight saga: Passenger 'was very upset'

Formula 1 teammates Arvid Lindblad and Liam Lawson's viral EasyJet moment was in part set up by a "very upset" passenger in the wrong seat.

After the Belgian Grand Prix, the Racing Bulls pair shared a photo of them sat together on a flight of the budget British airline.

Although not uncommon for F1 drivers to fly commercial to European races, the photo of two teammates together was widely circulated on social media.

F1 rookie Lindblad said there's no reason to fly differently just because he's now racing in the sport's pinnacle series.

"It was good. I've not got much money, so I'm still going on the normal commercial flights," F1 rookie Lindblad said of the flight.

"But there's nothing wrong with that. I've done that [for] everything up until now. There's no reason why that ... If I can save a bit of money, I might as well save some money, even if I have more now. So, I'm very happy going on EasyJet."

Lindblad joked that the moment only happened because he found someone in his seat when he boarded.

"The team likes to put us near each other. I mean, one's not going to be in row one, the other in row 27; that's a bit rude. We were meant to be 3D and 3F. And the woman was very upset when I said I was in the aisle. And I was just like, 'If you want to stay there, I can go in E.' So yeah, me and Liam were sitting next to each other."

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The passenger apparently had no idea who share was sharing a row with.

In his own media session, Lawson was asked if the woman on the aisle had recognised him when he took his seat.

"If she did, she didn't like me," he joked back.

The notion of being teammates in Formula 1 is different to many other sports -- the driver with identical machinery is often the one a competitor is measured most closely against.

Netflix's Drive to Survive series has previously played up intra-team rivalries at different teams.

Lindblad said the fact he and Lawson shared the flight back shows sometimes the idea of teammates being natural rivals can be overblown.

"We honestly have a really good relationship," he said. "I think for me, I've honestly been positively surprised in that sense because, you know, when you're younger, you see so much; I think Netflix also make it a bit worse than it sometimes is.

"But there's lots of this sort of stuff. But honestly, we get along really well, and I have a lot of respect for Liam for that, you know? We raced hard in Spa, and as soon as we saw each other after the race, he told me well done and a good race.

"And I think that was really impressive from him. And I've always tried to do the same, you know, when I struggled in qualifying, and he was in Q3, I told him well done when I saw him. And I think we've been getting that balance on and off track really good."