Crimson Bull will promote Frenchman Isack Hadjar to their senior staff and hand 18-year-old Briton Arvid Lindblad a debut Formulation 1 season in 2026.
Lindblad, who has a Swedish father and a mom of Indian descent, shall be team-mate to New Zealander Liam Lawson at second staff Racing Bulls.
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The shuffling of Crimson Bull’s driver line-up sees Japanese Yuki Tsunoda lose his seat on the grid after 5 seasons.
Hadjar, 21, will grow to be four-time champion Max Verstappen’s team-mate after a powerful rookie season at Racing Bulls, which included
Lindblad joins 5 different drivers with British nationality on the grid subsequent yr – Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, McLaren’s Lando Norris, Mercedes’ George Russell, Oliver Bearman of Haas and Williams driver Alex Albon, who races below the Thai flag however was born and raised in Britain.
Lindblad mentioned it was a “proud second”, including: “2026 shall be a giant problem and I do know there’s loads to study, however I am able to work intently with the staff and rise to it. I am unable to wait to get began.”
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Who’s Arvid Lindblad?
Arvid Lindblad drove the Crimson Bull in first apply for the British and Mexico Metropolis Grands Prix this yr [Getty Images]
Lindblad has been marked out as a possible future star by Crimson Bull since he was 12 years previous.
Discussing the corporate’s younger driver programme, Crimson Bull motorsport adviser Helmut Marko mentioned final yr that Lindblad “seems actually promising”, praising his “pure velocity”.
Crimson Bull have been working since final yr to prepared Lindblad for a possible F1 debut in 2026. They deliberate a programme for this season that might earn him sufficient factors to safe an F1 ‘superlicence’, which is required to race in grands prix.
He has accomplished two runs in F1 apply periods, on the British and Mexico Metropolis Grands Prix.
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Marko mentioned: “In one of many Formulation 3 races [at Silverstone in 2024], he overtook, in a single lap, I do not know, 10 or 14 different drivers. He gained the race from being final in these tough circumstances, moist, dry and so forth.
“If I look again, I met him first in Portimao (in Portugal). Portimao have a really engaging go-kart circuit and we had a Formulation 1 race and I met him and his father. And it was Arvid who was main the dialog, with 12 years (of age) or so. In order that additionally was one thing which isn’t regular.
“However he had a transparent imaginative and prescient and a transparent approach how you can obtain it. And since then he moved steadily ahead.”
Lindblad has gained two races in F2 this yr and is sixth within the championship heading into the ultimate spherical in Abu Dhabi this weekend.
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He was born and grew up in Virginia Water in Surrey and is managed by Britain’s Formulation E world champion Oliver Rowland.
An enormous likelihood – and check – for Hadjar
Isack Hadjar celebrates his first podium in F1, on the Dutch Grand Prix on 31 August [Getty Images]
Hadjar’s F1 profession began on a low word when he within the moist on the formation lap. He broke down in tears and was consoled by Hamilton’s father Anthony on his stroll again to the Racing Bulls storage.
However since then he has been one of many stand-out rookies this season, with a mean grid place of tenth and beating team-mate Liam Lawson in qualifying 22 instances to 5 at a mean benefit of 0.186 seconds.
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Hadjar lies tenth within the championship with one grand prix remaining this season.
However he faces a stiff problem towards Verstappen, who has comprehensively outperformed all his team-mates since Daniel Ricciardo left Crimson Bull on the finish of 2018.
Crimson Bull staff principal Laurent Mekies mentioned: “Isack has displayed nice maturity and proved to be a fast learner. Most significantly, he has demonstrated the uncooked velocity that’s the primary requirement on this sport.
“We consider Isack can thrive alongside Max and produce the magic on monitor.”
Hadjar described it as “an superior transfer” and mentioned he felt “prepared”.
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For the seat alongside Lindblad at Racing Bulls, Crimson Bull have most popular Lawson over Tsunoda.
Lawson began 2025 with Crimson Bull however was demoted to the junior staff in a swap with Tsunoda after simply two races. He struggled badly alongside Verstappen, to the extent that Crimson Bull felt they’d no alternative however to take away him from the seat.
However he has settled again into F1 at Racing Bulls and a few robust performances – together with a fifth place in Azerbaijan and sixth in Austria – have satisfied Crimson Bull he deserves extra time.
He has accomplished 34 begins throughout three years however shall be embarking on his second full season in 2026.
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Tsunoda, in the meantime, has been ejected from an F1 race seat after a disappointing season alongside Verstappen.
The 25-year-old had lengthy felt he merited an opportunity on the fundamental Crimson Bull staff however he has not been in a position to justify his place.
His greatest result’s a sixth place on the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and he has scored solely 7% of Crimson Bull’s factors within the constructors’ championship.
He has out-qualified Verstappen solely as soon as – within the Qatar dash final weekend – and has a mean deficit of 0.644secs to the Dutchman over the season, by far the most important margin between team-mates on the grid.
Verstappen has gained seven races and is in rivalry for the world championship with McLaren drivers Norris and Oscar Piastri heading to Abu Dhabi.
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There’s additionally no place on the Crimson Bull driver programme for Eire’s Alex Dunne.
The 20-year-old break up with McLaren in September and had been
Nonetheless, whereas Marko is alleged to have wished to tackle Dunne, different senior members of Crimson Bull didn’t, and Mekies has informed BBC Sport that Dunne shouldn’t be a part of their plans.
Dunne will proceed in F2 subsequent season along with his present staff Rodin and is in talks with Alpine about becoming a member of their driver improvement programme.
