Marko finds next Red Bull ‘champion’ in ‘Max won’t drive forever’ admission

Red Bull junior Arvid Lindblad celebrates.
Red Bull driver programme boss Helmut Marko has offered an intriguing, detailed insight into British Formula 2 star Arvid Lindblad, potentially the next Red Bull “champion” and F1 2026 driver.
The famed Red Bull Junior Team has produced the likes of multi-time World Champions Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel, with Daniel Ricciardo, Carlos Sainz and Pierre Gasly further graduates to win on the F1 stage. And as Red Bull start preparations for F1 life beyond the Verstappen era, Marko believes Lindblad could be the one to ensure title glory remains at Red Bull.
Arvid Lindblad: The next Red Bull champion?
17-year-old Arvid Lindblad, born in Virginia Water, Surrey to a Swedish father and Indian mother, has been on a rapid rise up the junior categories with Red Bull backing, narrowly missing out on the Italian Formula 4 title in his first full campaign, but taking victory around the iconic Macau Grand Prix circuit.
He followed that up by challenging for the 2024 Formula 3 title in his first season, claiming four races wins and ultimately a P4 finish in the championship.
Continuing to take the promotions in his stride, causing headaches for his more experienced peers, next up for Lindblad is Formula 2, which he will tackle with Campos, the team with which Isack Hadjar – recently promoted to Racing Bulls for F1 2025 – claimed a runner-up finish in the 2024 campaign.
And as Marko gazes into his crystal ball, assessing the future of Red Bull, knowing their four-time World Champion Verstappen – contracted until the end of 2028 but never shy to bring up F1 retirement thoughts – will in the not too distant future call it quits, Lindblad is the one he can envisage being Red Bull’s “champion” in waiting.
“It’s a great pleasure and enjoyment to work with Max, but Max won’t drive forever,” said Marko on the Inside Line F1 podcast. “Especially not as long as Alonso or Hamilton are doing.
“And the junior team prospect [sic] is to find new talents. And we are not looking for a new Max. We’re looking for a new champion.
“I think the next one which looks really promising is Arvid Lindblad.
“And in his first year, or always in Formula 4, even if he didn’t win the championship, the same applies to F3, he could have won the championship, but circumstances and so on, but what is making him outstanding, is his pure speed.
“In one of the Formula 3 races [at Silverstone], he overtook, in one lap, I don’t know, 10 or 14 other drivers. He won the race from being last in these tricky conditions, wet, dry and so on.
“If I look back, I met him first in Portim?o. Portim?o have a very attractive go-kart circuit and we had a Formula 1 race and I met him and his father. And it was Arvid who was leading the conversation, with 12 years or so [of age]. So that also was something which is not normal!
“But he had a clear vision and a clear way how to achieve it. And since then he moved steadily forward.”
F2 will not be Lindblad’s exclusive focus though for 2025, as with an eye on securing him an FIA Super Licence which would clear him to compete in F1, the Brit is heading for New Zealand with a title mission set.
“He will be next year in Formula 2,” Marko continued.
“He is doing a very good preparation. The test was okay.
“We are doing a special programme for him, sending him to New Zealand in this FRECA [Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine] championship, and the goal is to win it so he gets the necessary points for a Super License. Even so, we will be 18 only in August.”
Marko has developed a fearsome reputation as the chief of Red Bull’s young driver pool, never shy to call out a member if he sees underperformance, yet in Lindblad, Marko sees a combination of strengths which give him “the base for big success” in his racing future.
And as such, he is expected to continue his impressive career trend and compete for the 2025 F2 title. No pressure then!
Of course, that is the Red Bull way, and pressure makes diamonds as the saying goes. Safe to say Red Bull’s approach has created a few of those!
“First of all is his pure speed,” said Marko as he began to list Lindblad’s strengths. “He proved that in go-karting and in all the junior categories.
“He’s very smart, and he is honest to himself. When he makes a mistake, he doesn’t look for excuses, and he’s looking forward. He’s always one category ahead already. That’s also from his physical side. As for his mental preparation, when he goes in a new formula, he is one of the few ones who went directly from Formula 4 to F3. He has his opinion, and he knows how to prepare, and he commits to it and step by step.
“So I would say it’s a very good combination between mental and driving skills.
“The first three [F2] test days just happened in Abu Dhabi, and he improved day by day.
“In the beginning, he was around three-tenths behind his team-mate [Pepe] Marti, who already did the full season, and on the last day on the qualifying run, he was already ahead of him. So that shows he watches, he looks what his team-mate is doing, and he knows where to improve.
“So the first step was okay, but we don’t want not only to be just ahead of his team-mate, we want him to win or to be one of the top players in the championship. And that is his commitment, looking, he knows what other drivers are doing, their strengths and weaknesses, so he has an overall picture. And that, I think, is the base for big success in the future.”
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And Red Bull will pull out all the stops for Lindblad in 2025, going beyond what Verstappen’s new F1 2025 team-mate Liam Lawson and Hadjar were afforded, as the Brit can expect testing sessions in F1 machinery.
And at a time when Red Bull principal Christian Horner is speaking of a make-or-break situation for Yuki Tsunoda in 2025, the Japanese star set to leave Racing Bulls at the end of the year and perhaps Red Bull entirely, the door to the F1 2026 grid is opening up for Lindblad.
“Yes, it’s a plan,” said Marko to the suggestion of TPC [testing of previous car] outings for Lindblad in 2025. “The number isn’t yet decided, but it will be several tests.
“And I think in the past, if I compare with [Jack] Doohan, or with [Oscar] Piastri, or also with [Oliver] Bearman, they had a lot of tests in the two-year-old version Formula 1 car.
“And we want… For example, Liam Lawson didn’t have this opportunity, and also, [Isack] Hadjar, to a certain amount, didn’t have this opportunity. And this we will change for Arvid that he, if he makes a very good season in Formula 2, that he can go with good experience into Formula 1 in 2026, maybe.”
If it was not already the case before, Arvid Lindblad in 2025 just became must-see!
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