Red Bull's 'next Max Verstappen' takes another major step in getting a super license

Red Bull junior Arvid Lindblad, who is touted as the "next Max Verstappen" won the feature race 3 at the 2025 Castrol Toyota FR Oceania Championship. The British driver, of Swedish and Indian heritage, has been making waves for the last couple of years given his results in the junior categories.

The 17-year-old will be racing in the F2 series with Campos Racing in 2025. The Brit is competing in New Zealand and won the Dorothy Smith Memorial Trophy by winning the first three races at the Hamptons Downs.

Lindblad took a major step to securing a FIA Super license given that he would be awarded 18 points for finishing P1 in the series of races in the Oceania Championship. The young Brit is currently on 25 points on his FIA Superlicense and can secure it by winning the next couple of races. He took to his Instagram story to repost the victory post from Toyota Gazoo Racing.

Screengrab of Red Bulls 'next Max Verstappen' Arvid Lindblad's Instagram story (@arvid.lindblad)

The Red Bull junior and the team's prospective 'next Max Verstappen' was ecstatic after taking pole position earlier on the weekend and even complimented the circuit, saying (via Auto Action):

“I really enjoy this circuit although I’m not sure it’s more to my style or not. It’s really cool and there’s a really nice flow to it. It’s quite challenging with the bumps which is not something I’m really used to."

The next stop on the 2025 Castrol Toyota FR Oceania Championship is at Manfield’s Circuit Chris Amon from January 24-26.

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Arvid Lindblad on his dynamic with Max Verstappen

Arvid Lindblad has said that four-time world champion Max Verstappen had been "very friendly" towards him off-track in his bid to help Lindblad. Speaking with RacingNews365, the 17-year-old reflected on the dynamic and said:

“I’ve sent him the odd message just to have some advice, and he’s always replied very quickly, or been very friendly. It’s not like he’s sent a very short, brief answer. He’s gone into quite a lot of detail and really tried to help me. So, yeah, he’s been very friendly.

For someone of his caliber, a four-time world champion, all the things he has in his mind, things he has to deal with - to take the time, to be open, honest and quite friendly to someone like me, who’s coming up through the ranks, is very inspiring. Obviously, in the future, I want to be in Formula 1. I want to be a world champion, and seeing those characteristics and behaviors from him is something I aspire to have, hopefully in the future.”

Lindblad could be teammates with Verstappen in the coming years in Red Bull if he impresses the Austrian team in F2 in 2025.