Red Bull’s mystery driver deal as Verstappen plan activated

Red Bull has been preparing its driver pool to respond just in case Max Verstappen gets a race ban, the latest step being to give Arvid Lindblad his debut at Silverstone.

As per Red Bull’s senior advisor and driver programme boss Helmut Marko, the 17-year-old Lindblad will contest FP1 at his home race – the British Grand Prix – at the wheel for Racing Bulls after a recent test at Imola in their 2023 car. Meanwhile, Red Bull had earlier struck a reserve driver deal with another team, as per Marko, which remained a cliffhanger.

Is Max Verstappen truly in danger of a race ban?

Red Bull’s reigning four-time World Champion Verstappen sits on the brink of a one-race ban, his penalty points total at 11 with 12 instigating that punishment.

Should he get through this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix with no points incurred, two will drop off Verstappen’s tally, though the threat of a race ban will remain, as no further points are due to drop off until late October.

Red Bull has therefore been getting its driver options in order to respond to such a development, and a major boost arrived with the granting of Lindblad’s FIA Super Licence, the Formula 2 title contender due to debut in FP1 at Silverstone.

Marko also said that earlier in the year, Red Bull had agreed terms with another team over reserve driver access.

“We are preparing ourselves in case something really happens with Max Verstappen in terms of his penalty points,” Marko told Kleine Zeitung.

“We currently have two replacement drivers: Lindblad and Ayumu Iwasa, who has overlapping Formula 1 dates with his commitments in Japan.

“For some races we even had a deal with another team, and once a replacement driver was even scheduled for three teams.

“It’s not so easy to find someone who is in good shape. And that’s why Lindblad is now in the car.”

How the penalty points tallies look in F1 2025

👉 F1 penalty points: Verstappen on edge of race ban for one more round

👉 Who has been fined the most by the FIA in the F1 2025 season?

Who could this reserve be?

It is a somewhat standard practice for teams to share reserve drivers; Williams and McLaren – both Mercedes engine customers – enjoy a relationship with the team which also gives them access to 10-time grand prix winner Valtteri Bottas.

Bottas is the driver who would quickly come to mind for many trying to crack the code, but PlanetF1.com understands that Bottas was not made available to Red Bull by Mercedes.

Another possibility is Bottas’ ex-Sauber team-mate Zhou Guanyu, who signed-up as Ferrari reserve for F1 2025 after losing his place on the grid. It would be logical for Zhou to be available to Ferrari engine customers Haas and Sauber.

PlanetF1.com understands that Franco Colapinto also was not the driver in question, the Argentine having started F1 2025 as Alpine reserve before replacing Jack Doohan in a race seat, which would have made it feasible that he was available to Alpine, Red Bull and Racing Bulls at one stage.

All roads appear to lead back to Iwasa as the driver once scheduled as a three-team reserve, Red Bull, Racing Bulls and a rival team, thus meaning Marko was speaking about an agreement which made their reserve available to another team, rather than the other way around.