Whoa, so get this – Red Bull’s actually letting this kid, Arvid Lindblad, who’s just 17 (yeah, seriously), jump into Formula 1 action during FP1 at the British Grand Prix. Insanity, right? First, there were these rumors flying around thanks to Red Bull’s own Helmut Marko yakking about it at the Austrian Grand Prix, but now it’s like, official. Boom. Lindblad is gonna take over Yuki Tsunoda’s car for that first practice session at Silverstone.
Now, why is a 17-year-old getting this chance? There’s a twist here – he’s not even 18 until August 8th. Early birthday present, anyone? But he got this special pass or whatever you call it, from the FIA to snag a Super License. They’re all like, “This dude has been crushing it and shows wicked skill and maturity on the track.” Gotta love that.
He snagged those Super License points by dominating the FR Oceania title earlier this year. Now he’s kinda hustling through the Formula 2 championship, rookie style. Though, last time out in Austria, it wasn’t his jam – no points, and he slipped to sixth place, 35 points off Richard Verschoor, who’s leading right now. Ouch.
So here’s a quirky thing with the teams – they gotta let a rookie loose for four FP1 sessions each season. Ayumu Iwasa already had one go in Bahrain with Red Bull. Over at Racing Bulls, they’ve used Isack Hadjar in the first two races.
Besides Lindblad, Paul Aron’s getting in on the FP1 action at Silverstone too. But he’s driving for Sauber, ’cause they’ve got this whole dealy with Alpine for driving swaps or something. And Aron’s gonna do this whole dance again for Sauber in Hungary. Gabriel Bortoleto already ticked the rookie box for the first two race weekends. It’s all like musical chairs but for race cars. Wild, right?
