Photo: Red Bull
The FIA decided to grant an early superlicense to Formula 2 racer Arvid Lindblad during a meeting of its World Motor Sport Council today.
One of the requirements to qualify for an FIA superlicense, which is needed to race in Formula 1, is that a driver must be 18 or older. A rule change introduced in 2024, when Andrea Kimi Antonelli was being linked with an early F1 debut, means the governing body can now give special dispensation for certain drivers to receive their superlicence at 17.
Lindblad does not reach adulthood until August, and Red Bull put in a request to the FIA for an exemption to be made while the Anglo-Swede is 17. It means he could be considered as a stand-in at either of its two teams should Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen pick up a race ban this month.
Lindblad has already met the other requirement for a superlicense, which is to accumulate 40 superlicence points over the past three years, since making his single-seater debut in 2022.
He has won in four different Formula 4 competitions, Formula Regional Middle East and the FIA Formula 3 Championship. This year he won the FRegional Oceania title and stepped up to Formula 2, where he is currently third in the standings with two victories and a pole. He got his first F1 mileage in a demo on a former IndyCar circuit last year.
During the World Motor Sport Counil meeting, the FIA also approved the proposal to award two superlicence points to the winner of the FIA F4 World Cup in Macau. That race was won by Lindblad in 2023 before it was granted World Cup status.