Lindblad granted F1 superlicence, but where does that leave him?

The FIA has granted Red Bull junior driver Arvid Lindblad a Formula 1 superlicence, meaning the 17-year-old could take part in a race despite being under the usual minimum age requirement of 18.

Red Bull had requested an exemption for the hotly-tipped Lindblad, who has the 40 points required to be granted a superlicence but remains a few months away from the minimum age, as he turns 18 in August.

The request is thought to have been made several weeks ago, perhaps with a view to running Lindblad in a free practice session. However, the exemption could become more relevant after world champion Max Verstappen‘s penalty for his clash with George Russell in the Spanish Grand Prix.

It left Verstappen just one penalty point away from a race ban going into this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix and the following race in Austria, after which two points will removed from his superlicence.

According to the FIA, Lindblad “has recently and consistently demonstrated outstanding ability and maturity in single-seater formula car competition” and the governing body therefore approved Red Bull’s request with a special dispensation.

With this licence, the British teenager can now be called up by Red Bull or Racing Bulls as a reserve or even a race driver if needed.

The road to the F1 superlicence

Lindblad became a full member of the Red Bull Junior Team in 2022 after making his single-seater debut in the Italian F4 Championship with Van Amersfoort Racing.

Having moved to Prema for 2023, he finished third in Italian F4 and fourth in the Euro 4 Championship, also winning the Macau F4 race.

In 2024, Lindblad had a breakthrough season as he made the jump to Formula 3, also with Prema.

He won the season-opening sprint race in Bahrain and became the youngest feature race winner in F3 history in Barcelona later that year.

He then achieved a historic double win at Silverstone, the first in F3 history, and finished the season as the highest-scoring rookie and fourth overall.

Lindblad moved up to Formula 2 for 2025, and he has been a consistent frontrunner with Campos Racing.

He became the youngest race winner and youngest pole-sitter in F2 history, winning races in Jeddah and Spain, and sits third in the standings, just eight points behind championship leader Alex Dunne.

Where does he fit in Red Bull’s plans?

It is no secret that Red Bull has faced difficulties with its F1 driver line-ups during the 2025 season.

Liam Lawson was promoted to a full-time drive as Max Verstappen‘s team-mate, but lasted only two races before being demoted to Racing Bulls.

There, Lawson is yet to fully find his feet despite having managed to score some points in Monaco, and has been overshadowed by Isack Hadjar‘s performances so far.

Meanwhile, Lawson’s replacement at Red Bull, Yuki Tsunoda, has also failed to find any sort of competitiveness and has scored just three more points than Lawson since being promoted.

Worryingly for Red Bull, there haven’t been many signs of progress for Tsunoda, who qualified last on merit in the previous race in Spain.

Given all of the above, Lindblad’s shadow looms ever larger, perhaps even before next season.

Red Bull’s Helmut Marko is a strong believer in Lindblad’s potential, labelling the Briton “outstanding” at the end of last year.

However, Red Bull needs to tread carefully with Lindblad, particularly during a year in which both Tsunoda and Lawson have failed to live up to expectations, in the latter’s case by promoting him to the main team too early.

Should Verstappen be banned, the move that would make the most sense would be to replace him with Hadjar rather than throwing Lindblad into the deep end straight away.

Hadjar looks able to do a competent job alongside Tsunoda, as he did at Racing Bulls, and would be able to work without the pressure of being compared to Verstappen on the other side of the garage.

Then Lindblad could take Hadjar’s seat at Racing Bulls and have a more relaxed debut before he returns to his F2 duties once Verstappen returns.

That would give Red Bull the chance to evaluate him further with a view towards 2026 when, unless Lawson or Tsunoda manage to pick up the pace, the team will need to make more difficult decisions about its drivers.