Teenage star Arvid Lindblad to replace Yuki Tsunoda at British GP practice, Lawson's Red Bull return ruled out

Friday, 4 July 2025

Desperate to turn around his dire run of form, Yuki Tsunoda will have one less practice session to prepare for the British Grand Prix.

Red Bull has confirmed that teenage Formula 2 star Arvid Lindblad will test Tsunoda’s RB21 in the opening practice session at Silverstone on Friday night (NZT).

The interruption couldn’t come at a worse time for Tsunoda, with the Japanese driver fresh from a last-place finish at the Austrian Grand Prix and having not scored a point across the last four rounds.

Add in the speculation around Max Verstappen, as rumours of a defection to Mercedes heat up, and Red Bull is in for an interesting weekend.

Tsunoda is fighting to get to grips with his RB21 and for his F1 future, but Red Bull senior adviser Dr Helmut Marko has ruled out reversing the driver switch with Kiwi Liam Lawson, following his career best finish of sixth, in Austria last week.

Red Bull demoted Lawson after just two races in a straight swap with Tsunoda.

“A driver change doesn’t make sense,” Marko told Sky Germany.

Liam Lawson heads into the British Grand Prix on the back of a career best performance.

Marko praised Lawson’s performance in Austria but backed the decision to demote the Kiwi back to Racing Bulls, the energy drink manufacturer's junior team.

“I think he would not have stayed on his feet next to Max either,” Marko said.

With Verstappen still in a precarious position with penalty points, there was a school of thought that Lawson could be a temporary replacement back at Red Bull if the reigning world champion was to cop a one-race suspension.

However, it has been reported by Dutch publication De Telegraaf, that Lindblad, 17, is testing the RB21 in Austria to gain experience in the Red Bull in case that situation unfolds.

All but ruling out Lawson as the would-be replacement.

Lindblad was last month, granted a special exemption by the FIA to secure the required super licence to drive in Formula 1 before his 18th birthday on August 8.

A Red Bull junior, Lindblad will be pressing hard for a full-time seat next season, but that would likely come at Racing Bulls, with Lawson’s rookie team-mate Isack Hadjar a strong possibility to be promoted to the Red Bull top table.

However, all bets are off on Red Bull’s driver lineup until Verstappen’s future is confirmed.

Following his sixth in Austria, Lawson hopes to back up that performance by pushing hard for a third bank of points for the season.

“To be racing for the first time here this weekend is very exciting and the atmosphere at Silverstone is incredible with the amount of fans that come out for the race,” Lawson said.

Silverstone’s forecast is for fine weather for practices one and two and a dry race, but rain is predicted for qualifying.

The 2025 British Grand Prix begins at 2am on Monday (NZT).