Racing Bulls have begun preparations for the new F1 season in their 2025 car. Yuki Tsunoda and Isack Hadjar are looking to push the team up the field.
The Faenza outfit unveiled the design for the VCARB 02 at the F1 75 launch event at the O2 Arena in London. All 10 teams revealed their new liveries but Racing Bulls were the team that caught everyone’s attention.
The team will sport a striking white livery as opposed to their shiny blue look last season. Racing Bulls fans noticed the similarities with Red Bull’s Honda tribute from the 2021 Turkish Grand Prix.
Red Bull sported a white design for the race to honour Honda after they initially decided to pull out of F1. The 2025 season will be the final year the Milton Keynes-based outfit and Racing Bulls work with the Japanese manufacturer before they move to Aston Martin.
Tsunoda and Hadjar took the VCARB 02 for its first shakedown at Imola on Wednesday. At the same time, Ferrari were 54 miles away testing the SF-25 at Fiorano with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.
Arvid Lindblad brought out the red flag with a spin at Imola during Racing Bulls test
Hadjar showed ‘monstrous’ pace at Imola to delight his engineers. The Frenchman ran in the morning before handing the car to Tsunoda in the afternoon – but he was not alone on track.
Racing Bulls ran a secret driver alongside the 24-year-old at Imola, with Ayumu Iwasa away on Super Formula duties. A report from Motorsport Italia confirmed that the driver was Arvid Lindblad.
The 17-year-old drove the AlphaTauri AT04 (the 2023 car) as part of a Testing of Previous Cars test. Lindblad recently acquired enough points for a superlicense after winning the Formula Regional Oceania Championship at the start of the year.
READ MORE: Red Bull junior Arvid Lindblad’s life outside F1 from height to parents
Red Bull are preparing the Brit for a possible F1 move in the future. However, his test at Imola was hampered by two incidents.
Lindblad ‘spun at Rivazza during a cooling lap’ which brought out the red flag so stewards could recover the AT04. The Brit has now subsequently repeated the feat of Hamilton who crashed in Barcelona while testing the SF-23.
Lindblad later completed two long runs, with one being ‘interrupted’ by another spin at the Variante Gresini. Luckily for the 17-year-old, it is just testing and mistakes will be common from a rookie.
Could Arvid Lindblad make his F1 debut in 2025?
Lindblad feels he has a connection to Hamilton – he was born the same year the seven-time champion made his F1 debut in 2007. In that sense, it is fitting the Red Bull junior suffered an off in testing as his hero did for Ferrari.
Like Hamilton in his junior days, Lindblad is being tipped for big things by Red Bull. The Brit will race for Campos Racing in F2 in 2025 after finishing fourth in his debut season in F3 last year.
Red Bull can now promote Lindblad to F1 in 2025 if they desire with his superlicence obtained. The Brit is set to be both the Milton Keynes-based outfit and Racing Bulls’ reserve driver with Red Bull ‘urgently’ training Lindblad to fill the role.
Tsunoda and Hadjar are out of contract at the end of the season. Given Red Bull’s notorious nature of sacking drivers mid-season, it would not be surprising if Lindblad replaced one of the two Racing Bulls drivers if they fail to perform.
The F1 paddock expect Red Bull to sign Lindblad down the line. Helmut Marko thinks the 17-year-old can be the next Max Verstappen and win the championship.
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