Selected by Helmut Marko as Red Bull’s potential “new champion”, Arvid Lindblad waxed lyrical about their four-time World Champion Max Verstappen and how helpful he has been.

F1 2025 has not yet gotten underway, but Red Bull are already seemingly plotting driver changes, with team principal Christian Horner suggesting that Yuki Tsunoda is entering his final season with their junior team VCARB.

Arvid Lindblad on Max Verstappen: ‘He’s really impressive’

That was followed by Red Bull senior advisor and driver programme boss Helmut Marko looking into his crystal ball to identify their “next champion”, with Verstappen having never been shy to hint that his F1 retirement could come earlier than expected.

And the driver who Marko picked out was Red Bull’s 17-year-old British hot prospect Arvid Lindblad, who is already a champion in 2025 after sealing the Formula Regional Oceania title, with a rookie Formula 2 season with Campos to come.

“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 [Fernando] Alonso or [Lewis] 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 with his first title in the bag, Lindblad comfortably did enough to reach the 40-point threshold needed to get his FIA Superlicence upon turning 18.

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So, Lindblad is potentially the next generation at Red Bull, but it turns out that their current star has been an important guiding light.

“I think Max is a really great guy,” said Lindblad on the Inside Line F1 podcast.

“I think he’s really impressive because when I sort of first started to get to know him and talk to him, he really is just like a normal guy.

“He doesn’t let any of the fame or the noise go to his head and he’s really down to earth.

“He always has taken a lot of time to talk to me, and he’s been really helpful and yeah, most of our conversations have just been about racing and stuff, but he’s been really great to talk to and a really amazing person to know because like I said, he’s been really down to earth and just been really open to help.

“Some of the recent races I’ve been in the F1 paddock and the past couple of months if I’ve had a couple of questions, I’d send him a message and he would reply really instantly and it’s really impressive considering as a four-time World Champion, the amount of things you have to do and to deal with.

“To be able to take the time to talk to me, it was really amazing.”

Verstappen has a new team-mate for F1 2025 as Liam Lawson steps up from VCARB, replacing Sergio Perez.

Former Campos F2 driver Isack Hadjar meanwhile has joined VCARB, off the back of his runner-up finish in the 2024 F2 Championship.

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