Why Arvid Lindblad is the Next Max Verstappen

I don't know if you've heard, but there has been a bit of Red Bull driver drama recently. And whilst we've all been hearing about the usual names, one name that you might have heard that you might not know too much about is Arvid Limblad. Although Red Bull have other juniors in Formula 2, Arvid Limblad at just 17 years old is by far their biggest talent.

And it seems almost certain that as long as he delivers a promising F2 rookie campaign that he will also follow in the footsteps of another teenager in Antonyelli to be in Formula 1 next season. And now the great irony to all of this is that back in 2021, Lando Norris met a then 12-year-old Avid Limblad at a carting event. And when walking up to meet Lando, this is what he had to say.

me. I'll see you in 5 years. Yeah.

All right. Nice. Thank you.

The reason there's been so much hype around Limblad is that similar to Antelli from a very young age, even going back to carting, he was already being talked about as someone to watch for the future off the back of his results. In 2018, he won the British carting championship. And then a couple of years later, he followed that up with the WSK Master Series in 2020 and WSK Euro Series in 2021.

It's at this point that Red Bull stepped into the equation, signing Limblad onto their young driver program. And the question now became, could he carry that ability from winning in carts to winning in cars and become a genuine contender to get into Formula 1? From the age of seven, he also started working with Formula E driver Oliver Roland.

That relationship developed into Roland becoming Limblad's mentor and driver coach in a similar way to what Mark Weber has done with Oscar Pastri. Having an accomplished racing driver like Roland guiding Limblad meant that from a very early age, he became a very well-rounded racing driver both on and off the track. And just having that experienced voice to always fall back on allows you to accelerate your growth curve.

As a person, something that really comes across is that Arvid is clearly a very focused and determined individual with a very high work ethic. He tries to leave no stone unturned by putting the right people around him, whether that be his family, driver coaches, trainers, or racing drivers, to make sure that he is doing everything that he can to prepare and perform to the best of his abilities. He's also making sure to not look too far ahead and to not trip over himself.

He has reiterated multiple times that despite all of the hype that comes from people like Marco and Horner talking about him in his words, "All of that can go away very quickly. It's very easy for that to just get to your head and then you get a sense of complacency. It's good to know that I'm making them happy because they are obviously going to be very important for my future.

But I just need to keep focused on my job and things will fall into place. I want to be in Formula 1 and I'll just take it every day as it comes and just focus on doing the best. Much like with Antonyelli at Mercedes, Helmet Marco has felt that Limblad's talents have warranted for him to essentially be fast-tracked through the junior ladder.

He's only raced full-time in single seaters for 2 years, but he's consistently made the jump up every year into more competitive championships. In 2023, he competed in Italian Formula 4, winning six out of 21 races and finishing third in the championship. In 2024, he then jumped up into Formula 3, winning four races and finishing fourth in the championship.

And for 2025, Helmet Marco has continued his rapid progression by promoting him into Formula 2. Last year's F3 campaign is definitely when Limblad announced himself to the Formula 1 Paddock. Although his consistency fell off drastically in the last six races as he failed to score points, he still became the first driver in history to win both races during an F3 weekend when he won the sprint and feature race in Silverstone and amazingly having taken four wins in 20 races.

He also now holds the record for the best winning percentage in Formula 3 history, winning 20% of his races. Despite the fact that he wasn't able to win the F4 and F3 championships as a rookie, I think it's just worth reiterating that he has been fasttracked through the junior series as a 15, 16, and 17year-old. And in each and every single one of them, not only has he been a serial race winner, but also a title contender.

or whilst there is still plenty that he can improve on with regards to consistency, race management, and specifically understanding why his form fell away twice towards the latter half of the seasons in Formula 4 and Formula 3. What is crystal clear is that his ceiling is absolutely sky-high. He has definitely been a driver of peaks and troughs, but already producing the peaks that he has at his age, like winning all three races during the Mons round in Formula 4 and winning both of the races at Silverstone in Formula 3.

That is why Red Bull is so excited about his potential and why they're essentially not bothered about him winning those titles as long as he continues to show that progression and instant adaptation as he jumps into faster cars and more competitive championships. It's worth noting that in the run-up to the 2025 F2 season, he's also competed and won the Formula Regional Oceania Championship at the start of the year. And that means that regardless of what happens in Formula 2 this season, even without any FP1 sessions in Formula 1, he already has enough super license points to race in Formula 1 in 2026.

Clearly with Limblad, the upside is enormous and that is why Red Bull feel that they would rather fast track and develop him in Formula 1 instead of leaving him to develop for longer in the lower Formula. Hitting the ground running, winning races at such a young age in so many different championships and on lots of tracks that he's never been to before just underlines the level of talent that he has. As far as F2 this season, similar to Mercedes with Kimmy, because Red Bull have already laid the foundations for him to step up into Formula 1, I think that it's fair to say that the expectations of what he has to achieve to get the call up is actually a lot lower compared to other drivers.

Formula 2 historically has been notoriously tricky when it comes to judging drivers and then predicting how good they're going to be in Formula 1. Form in F2 doesn't always correlate onetoone with how good drivers end up being in Formula 1 and that is due to a myriad of factors like the unique driving characteristics of the F2 cars, the reliability factor which seems worse than ever and then also because the quality of the field fluctuates so much from year to year. Judging from his progress so far, I don't think Limblad necessarily needs to win the F2 title this year as a rookie, even though that would obviously help his case immensely.

I think Red Bull and specifically Marco are going to be looking for those special moments and those same high peaks that made them have so much trust in him in the first place. They're going to be looking for his ability in the wet. They're going to be looking at his race management and how he deals with pressure.

And finally, they're going to want to see two or three race wins, as well as a handful of impressive podiums that mark him out amongst the rest. It's impossible to ignore the current Red Bull driver situation when it comes to talking about Limblad's future because assuming Cenoda is going to stay at Red Bull into 26, which is by no means a guarantee by the way, I think what is certain is that one of either Hajar or Lawson will probably be out of RB and potentially even out of Formula 1 altogether in 26 to make way for Limblad. By dropping Lawson and making him go head-to-head with Hajar for the rest of the 2025 season, it means that Red Bull is going to get a very good read on which of these two drivers has the most potential going forward.

If Limblad warrants a promotion into Formula 1, then at some point this season, Red Bull are going to have to make a very tough decision between Lawson and Hajar because I just do not see how you can justify keeping both of them into 26 and blocking a seat for Limblad if the job of RB is to funnel drivers into Red Bull. In a way, Red Bull have found themselves in a bit of a strange situation with almost too many drivers at their disposal. But I just do not see a world where each of them is equally going to be given a fair chance, let alone be a success at Red Bull in the future.

There is of course the possibility that Limblad doesn't quite hit the ground running in Formula 2 and does need another season to prove himself. In that situation, I think continuity is almost guaranteed with both Lawson and Hajar remaining at RB for 26 and then this whole conversation just starts all over again in a year's time for 27. When it comes to Limblad, although there is lots of hype around him, which in itself is going to bring with it pressure and expectations, to reiterate once again, he's only 17 years old and so if he needs another year or two in Formula 2, that is by no means a disaster.

If anything, it might give Red Bull even more time to develop him with more Formula 1 testing whilst he continues to race in Formula 2. Ultimately, with Limblad, the goal has to be a long-term plan with the right preparation and the right testing in the previous Red Bulls for him to eventually become a championship caliber driver for Red Bull. Over the last half decade, Red Bull have screwed up the development of their drivers so bad that in 2023, they chose to abandon their own junior drivers entirely in favor of Nick to Freeze and then a return for Daniel Ricardo.

In Limblad, they clearly have a very talented racing driver, but they also have an opportunity to develop him right this time and for him to be an eventual success at Red Bull. If they commit to Limblad and choose to promote him into Formula 1 for 2026 alongside either Hajar or Lawson at RB, their next goal has got to be a comprehensive plan of how they can develop and acclimatize him to the driving characteristics of the Red Bull. Integrate him into the race team early so that he's mentally familiar with them when he's promoted.

And only then after a year or two in the RB whilst also simultaneously testing the Red Bull on the side can they honestly say that they gave him the best possible preparation and have put him in the best possible position to succeed when he gets the eventual callup to the top team. But whilst in the past it seemed like just promoting a promising midfield junior would be enough for them to become a winning driver at Red Bull, the landscape of that second seat has changed completely and therefore the mindset of how you judge and prepare drivers should also change as well. Talent, experience, and strong midfield results in the junior team just aren't enough anymore.

And if anything to be a relative success and emphasis on the word relative alongside a stapen now the next driver choice has to almost be dictated less by outright results and more so by the driving characteristics of the driver himself. The uncertainty over Max Vstappen's future means that Red Bull have to start planning what the next 5 to seven years of their team is going to look like. or whether Max leaves at the end of this year, at the end of 26, or at the end of his contract in 28, Red Bull have to start making contingencies for who is going to be their next championship caliber driver in the post Vstappen era.

Given the unique challenges and car characteristics of the current Red Bulls, simply promoting a young and talented driver isn't going to futureproof the team like it would have in the past. And so how they prepare Limblad and develop him to get the most out of his talent is going to make or break whether this team will be in a good position once Vstappen decides to leave. In Avid Limblad, Red Bull clearly have a young, hungry, and immensely talented driver.

From what we have seen so far, there is nothing to suggest that Limblad won't be capable of being at the very least a competent driver in Formula 1. and Arid himself is laser focused on Formula 2 and not letting the hype get to his head despite the fact that for fans like me, it's difficult not to get over excited about a talent as special as him. For Red Bull, however, Limblad represents a responsibility and opportunity.

They have got so much wrong on the driver's side over the past 10 or so years, going back all the way to even making Ricardo feel alienated inside of the team and essentially making him want to leave. Hopefully with Limblad, they can do things right this time because he is a driver who deserves the right platform to fulfill his potential. Well, there you have it.

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