Photo: Red Bull
Racing Bulls ran Ayumu Iwasa and Arvid Lindblad in a Formula 1 test last week, ahead of the latter making his free practice debut this weekend with Red Bull Racing.
The test took place at Imola on Monday (June 23) using the two-year-old AlphaTauri AT04 chassis, as part of the team’s testing of previous car (TPC) programme. Iwasa is Racing Bull’s test driver, and was in the cockpit during the afternoon.
Formula 2 racer and Red Bull junior Lindblad drove in the morning, and will get his first running in a contemporary F1 car this Friday (June 4) as he takes over Yuki Tsunoda’s car for free practice one of F1’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
His first mileage in older machinery came in a 2024 demo on a stretch of an old IndyCar circuit, and he revealed to Formula Scout that he also drove in a TPC test earlier this year but did not say which team it was with or where it took place.
“It was fun, driving an F1 car is always very special,” the 17-year-old said of his recent Imola outing. “It was nice to be back in the car, obviously very fast, a big step up from F2 in every way but it was really good.”
He will be working with Racing Bulls again once time allows since “there’s still some stuff to discuss and analyse for both me and Ayumu” from that test.
Arvid Lindblad claims to be “not ready” for a full-time drive in Formula 1 despite taking part in a behind-close-doors test with VCARB earlier in the week.
Looking ahead to his free practice outing, Lindblad called it “a very cool opportunity” while in conversation with Formula Scout.
“I kind of new very early on in the year that there were opportunities for that, when they requested thesuperlicense, I suspected there was something there.”
Since Lindblad is not yet at the minimum age usually required for an FIA superlicense, Red Bull put in a request to the FIA this February for an exemption to be made and it was approved during a meeting of its World Motor Sport Council this month.
“The opportunity to drive alongside Max [Verstappen] in the Red Bull as well will be extremely special and I can’t wait to have my first session on an official F1 race weekend at Silverstone as well, my home track, which makes it even more special,” the Anglo-Swede added.
The frontrunning F2 rookie also admitted that he does not feel prepared enough to step up to racing in F1 full-time in 2026, but would not be fazed by being called up for a cameo.
“I back myself that if the opportunity was to come to drive for one weekend, then I’d do a good job,” he said.