Christian Horner speaks highly of Arvid Lindblad along with Isack Hadjar as he talks about Red Bull Junior programme and how Fernando Alonso checked on about F1 seat.
Out of all the current Red Bull juniors, Horner has noticeably been high on the to-be F2 racer, Lindblad. The 17-year-old finished fourth in his rookie F3 season with Prema this year and will jump up to F2 in 2025 with Campos Racing. He already has a F1 run as part of a roadshow in a Visa Cash App RB car.
Should Hadjar stay in F2 in 2025 as well, both of them will be in a direct fight for a potential F1 seat in 2026. As noted, all-year long Horner has spoken highly of Lindblad. When asked why he thinks of the British so highly, he felt his attitude is correct, while also adding about the Frenchman, who is in a title fight against F1-bound Gabriel Bortoleto.
Overall, Horner spoke well of his Red Bull junior’s programme, which has seen good return with several drivers making it in F1. “Firstly, both the juniors are very impressive, Isack Hadjar and Arvid Lindblad,” said Horner. “Isack competing, as you say, for that Formula 2 championship and showing great promise this year.
“And when you see the quality of the F2 guys jumping in and delivering the way they are, I think it shows the level and the standard that’s currently in the junior category. Arvid is definitely a talent for the future. I think that he’s got the right attitude. He’s got the right approach and determination.
“And certainly what we’ve seen in some of his racing, Silverstone in particular this year, he’s a very talented driver. So only time will tell how good he is and how far he can go. But certainly he and Isack are both talents that we’re quite excited about. I think the junior programme has been tremendously successful over the years.
We’re giving many, many drivers the opportunity of getting to Formula 1, and even if that’s not with Red Bull Racing, that they’ve gone on to have careers in other teams. And the programme has changed a little. It was, in previous years, quite top-heavy in talent in Formula 2, Formula 3.
“That’s been inverted now, so we’re going further down the chain. I think Helmut has just signed his first nine-year-old. So, you know, we’ve got youngsters in karting, we’ve got youngsters in the junior formally, and it’s always been a philosophy of Red Bull to invest in young talent.
“And that continues to very much be the case,” summed up Horner. Despite the talent, Red Bull is finding it difficult to have a driver to support Max Verstappen in the senior team. They had to take up Sergio Perez and aren’t 100% about Liam Lawson and or Yuki Tsunoda to replace the Mexican in future.
In the discussions, Horner revealed about Red Bull’s talks with Alonso. Thrice they potentially had a chance but it never happened. The first one happened in 2008 which was followed by another go in 2011 and the latest one being for 2024 when Red Bull were still waiting on to re-sign Perez, while Alonso was looking to see if he wanted to stay back at Aston Martin or move around for potentially his final stint in F1.
“At that time, Sergio’s contract hadn’t been extended, so as Fernando is a seasoned operator, he always wants to know all of his options, and between him and his manager or advisor of many years, Flavio, they’re always, testing the market, and it just shows how hungry and competitive he is,” said Horner.
“And, he’s still delivering at 42 years of age. Is he 42? 43. He’s still in great shape and it just shows that age is just a number. So, yeah, you know, he’s still a very, very capable Grand Prix driver and given the tools, I’m sure he’d be at the front. Speaking of old, at the end of his McLaren stint, the first one in 2008, I remember going to Madrid and pushing to get him in the car.
“We wanted to do a two-year deal, and he was only prepared to sign for one year. And we were convinced he had a Ferrari contract in his back pocket at that point. So we didn’t get to a deal. Had he come to us in 2009, maybe things could have looked slightly different. Even halfway through the 2009 season, he was convinced if he got in our car, he could still win the championship that year. So that was that point we then had a conversation.
“I remember meeting with him with Adrian in the back of a hire car at Spa airport, I think that was around 2011 – ‘11 or ’12 – about coming across from Ferrari, and then even as early as the beginning of this year. So it’s incredible the longevity that he’s had, the competitiveness that he has, and the statistics for the talent that he has and the ability he has. Two world championships don’t do him justice. He should have won more than that,” summed up Horner.
Here’s David Coulthard undertaking demo run in Africa
Here’s Christian Horner, James Vowles on Franco Colapinto
Here’s more on GPDA letter
Here’s link to a F1 Discord channel, join in to interact
