Rising star named as ‘threat’ to Yuki Tsunoda’s Red Bull F1 seat

Red Bull protege Arvid Lindblad has been named as a “threat” to Yuki Tsunoda’s current F1 seat with the team.

The 17-year-old, who is part of Red Bull’s young driver programme, currently sits third in the Formula 2 championship after taking his first feature race victory in Spain last time out.

Lindblad has been tipped as the next contender for Red Bull to place in F1 and the team have reportedly already requested the FIA for an F1 superlicence exemption for their rising star, who doesn’t turn 18 until August.

Tsunoda has struggled alongside Max Verstappen though Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has stressed the Japanese driver will see out the whole 2025 season with the team.

But former F1 driver Johnny Herbert believes Lindblad is “the perfect candidate” to replace Tsunoda if Red Bull feel another driver shuffle is required.

"You're always in danger of losing your seat if you're struggling like Yuki Tsunoda, and how Liam Lawson, Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon all struggled being teammates with Max Verstappen,” Herbert told YaySweepstakes.

You get a battering, mentally, when you're consistently behind your teammate by such a big gap.  Tsunoda is definitely in a difficult position. Is there a threat to Tsunoda?

“Well, there is a particular guy who won the feature race in F2 over the same weekend, he's a Red Bull boy and he's moved up incredibly fast, that is Arvid Lindblad.

"I know Helmut Marko has a lot of respect for Lindblad, I met him when he was 14 when he was karting. He's got a very good outlook and mindset on what he wants to do and about getting into F1.

“He's is a perfect candidate to replace Tsunoda if he continues to struggle. Is there someone out there who could be better than Verstappen? Yes. Could it be Lindblad? Sure, but the real comes once you are in a seat with Max when he is on the other side of the garage.

“That's where Tsunoda will look over his shoulder because he's not doing the job he is expected to do. F1 is a very tough mental game.”

Arvid Lindblad or Isack Hadjar?

After enjoying an impressive start to his rookie F1 season, Isack Hadjar is seen by many as being the favourite for a Red Bull promotion in 2026 if Tsunoda cannot get on top of his current woes.

Hadjar currently sits ninth in the 2025 F1 world championship and is the second highest-placed Red Bull affiliated driver, ahead of both Tsunoda and Racing Bulls teammate Liam Lawson.

However, Herbert reckons Lindblad could leapfrog Hadjar in the pecking order for a future Red Bull seat if he were to go on and win the F2 title at the first attempt.

"Isack Hadjar has been very impressive, and rightly so. The nice thing that he's doing is just consistency, he's not been up and down,” he added.

“He's pretty good every time he's on the track. He might not have the perfect weekend all the time, but no one has so far this season.

“Hadjar is making people and teams think, he's put himself in a very good position. Of course, there's always the new promising rookies coming through, I was one of those before I had my accident, then it was Jean Alesi.

“Even if you're in the RB seat and doing a good job, but Arvid Lindblad wins the F2 championship, Red Bull, I would think, will want the champion in their second seat, especially with how quickly Lindblad has progressed.

“I think Hadjar is making that decision for Red Bull difficult, even if he never won F2. Red Bull now have potentially two young talents, and if Max Verstappen leaves Red Bull, according to the rumours, the team has two great talents that can drive for them."