Christian Horner ‘particularly excited’ by Red Bull junior set for 2025 promotion

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Christian Horner has named the Red Bull junior driver he is ‘particularly excited’ by ahead of seeing them rise one tier in the motorsport ladder in the 2025 campaign.

Red Bull have boasted one of the best junior programmes that Formula 1 has seen for years after bringing multiple drivers to the pinnacle of motorsport. Four-time champion Sebastian Vettel plus three-time champion Max Verstappen both honed their trade as Red Bull juniors.

Carlos Sainz, Daniel Ricciardo, Pierre Gasly, Alex Albon and Yuki Tsunoda even secured their routes into Formula 1 as Red Bull juniors. But their production line has not stopped as Liam Lawson leads Isack Hadjar, Pepe Marti, Arvid Lindblad and Ayumu Iwasa in the junior ranks.

Christian Horner is ‘excited’ about Red Bull junior driver Arvid Lindblad

While Lawson is set to replace Ricciardo at Visa Cash App RB for the rest of 2024, the Red Bull junior whom Horner is ‘particularly excited’ about is Lindblad. The 17-year-old spent the 2024 season driving a PREMA in FIA Formula 3 for his rookie campaign in the championship.

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Lindblad will not return to F3 next year, either, as Red Bull have already secured the Briton a seat on the Formula 2 grid for Campos Racing. He will step up a tier in the junior ladder after securing fourth place in the F3 standings with 113 points, after sealing four wins in 20 races.

Red Bull even saw Lindblad win on his F3 debut in the Sprint Race at the Bahrain Grand Prix this March. He picked up further victories in the Feature Races at the Spanish Grand Prix and British Grand Prix, plus the Sprint at Silverstone. Now, Horner is very excited about Lindblad.

“We’ve got Isack Hadjar in Formula 2 who’s been, until recently, leading that championship,” Horner said on Sky Sports F1 (21/09, 13:37). “We’ve got a very exciting young talent that I’m particularly excited about in F3 in Arvid Lindblad. So, we’ve got depth.”

Arvid Lindblad may struggle to match Isack Hadjar’s F2 results with Campos

Hadjar has lost the lead in the F2 championship to McLaren junior Gabriel Bortoleto having failed to score any points in six of the past seven F2 races, a run interrupted by winning the Feature Race at the Belgian Grand Prix. He is 4.5 points off the Brazilian with four races left.

Red Bull have also seen Hadjar challenge for the F2 title with Campos Racing, the team with whom Lindblad will make his Formula 2 debut next year. But this is Hadjar’s second term in F2 after finishing 14th in the standings as a rookie in the final season with F2’s previous car.

Lindblad will hope to make a similar impact when he joins Campos. But Red Bull must keep in mind that any returning Formula 2 drivers will already have a year’s worth of experience in the Dallara F2 2024 car, while he will step up from the less powerful Dallara F3 2019 car.