Red Bull is seeking an FIA Super Licence dispensation for Formula 2 racer Arvid Lindblad ahead of a possible F1 promotion.

The Red Bull junior driver is currently ineligible for a licence due to his age, with the 17-year-old a frontrunner for an F1 berth with Racing Bulls next season.

Arvid Lindblad Super Licence dispensation requested as Max Verstappen ban-threat looms

Under the FIA International Sporting Code, a driver must be 18 years of age before they can be granted a Super Licence, provided they have accrued 40 points through FIA-endorsed competitions in the preceding three years.

Lindblad will celebrate his 18th birthday on August 8, the week following the Hungarian Grand Prix and as F1 enters its summer shutdown.

The Swedish-born racer, who is a British dual national, already meets the points criteria.

Winning the Formula Regional Oceania competition in January saw him add 18 points to his tally which also includes 15 points for finishing fourth in last year’s Formula 3 Championship.

Together with the seven he earned in Italian Formula 4 in 2023 (among others), it’s enough to surpass the 40-point requirement.

A dispensation would entitle Lindblad to compete in Formula 1 – theoretically, in time for the Canadian Grand Prix next weekend.

That could make the teenager a viable option should Max Verstappen pick up a race ban.

PlanetF1.com understands the dispensation request for Lindblad pre-dates Verstappen’s accrual of three penalty points at the Spanish Grand Prix.

The four-time world champion stands just a single penalty point away from a one-race ban, necessitating a clean run through the Canadian and Austrian Grands Prix to avoid that punishment.

Beyond the Austrian Grand Prix, the Dutchman’s risk of a ban reduces as points start to drop off his licence.

However, should the Dutchman be sidelined for whatever reason, Red Bull has Ayumu Iwasa on the sidelines ready to jump in – whether that be alongside Yuki Tsunoda at the senior team or backfilling for Isack Hadjar or Liam Lawson at Racing Bulls, both of whom would be the leading contenders to step up into the Red Bull.

Therefore, there’s no great urgency surrounding Lindblad securing a Super Licence, especially given he will be eligible in just a matter of weeks anyway.

But it would equally be remiss of a team not to ask the question, as adding another string to the Red Bull driver bow is a logical and responsible move.

Whether that dispensation is granted, is another matter.

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The FIA is set to meet next week in Macau for the 2025 Extraordinary General Assemblies and Conference where the broad Super Licence topic is set to be broached, and likely Lindblad’s dispensation.

Historically, the FIA has been unwilling to issue dispensations, though the mechanism within the International Sporting Code exists.

That clause states: “At the sole discretion of the FIA, a driver judged to have recently and consistently demonstrated outstanding ability and maturity in single-seater formula car competition may be granted a Super Licence at the age of 17 years old.”

However, there is no qualifier for what constitutes ‘consistently demonstrated outstanding ability’.

A year ago, a dispensation request for Kimi Antonelli was denied when Williams approached the governing body.

Competing in F2 at the time, the highly-rated Italian won both the Italian and German Formula 4 championships in 2022, adding the Formula Regional Middle East and Formula Regional European competitions to his CV the following year.

By the time of his application, Antonelli had accrued over 50 Super Licence points.

Lindblad has not enjoyed the same degree of success during his early career; he was third in the 2023 Italian F4 Championship, fourth in that year’s Euro 4 Championship, and won the F4 Macau race.

Last year, he was fourth in the Formula 3 championship while, this year, he sits third with two wins to his name in Formula 2.

That’s in addition to his success in the Formula Regional Oceania Championship at the start of 2025.

Furthermore, it’s understood there is a prevailing attitude towards denying dispensation requests in an effort to maintain the integrity of the Super Licence, and the pyramid designed to lead up to it.

Sources have also suggested there is an awareness that, by affording one dispensation, it could open the floodgates for other requests, and the potential for legal challenge for an aggrieved party.

Nonetheless, Red Bull has submitted its request in good faith with the governing body poised to make a decision on the matter in the coming days.

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