Gary Anderson: Lindblad feels like Red Bull's next Verstappen

Red Bull might just have found its next Max Verstappen. It's very early in his Formula 1 career, but what I've seen from Arvid Lindblad in 2026 so far has been very impressive.

What stands out is how he's quietly gone about his job and has looked the part from the beginning, when he finished eighth on his F1 debut in the Australian Grand Prix.

When he gets a clear run, he has shown he can deliver, and weekends like Barcelona showed his pace even if a deployment problem in Q2 meant that his results didn't match up to it. He looks at home in F1, to the point where you have to remind yourself that he's an 18-year-old in his first season.

What he's doing has been overlooked partly because of what Kimi Antonelli is doing at the front of the field. Lindblad only has midfield machinery and he's had weekends where problems have set him back, for example the failure early in the one practice session in China and what happened in Barcelona, which means the results aren't so eye-catching.

Despite all of that, 13 points and four points finishes (one of those in the Miami sprint) shows he's much further along his learning curve than you would expect even though he deserves to have more on the board.

He has a take-no-prisoners approach, and that's what has caught my attention. Yes, he's fast, but that is the kind of mentality you need if you are to be more than just a decent driver in F1. There are some similarities with how Verstappen slotted in at Toro Rosso back in 2015, showing real ability right off the cuff.

Let's be clear, he is a long way away from Verstappen's level right now. It's just seven races into his Formula 1 career, so he needs time to mature, but I would not be surprised to see him improve dramatically as the season goes on, particularly in terms of getting better and more consistent results.

The races are still a bit tough for him at times and there is still learning to do there in terms of getting the best out of the whole thing over a grand prix distance. But when it comes to that one lap, when it comes to wringing the car’s neck, and when he has an equal opportunity and has not suffered practice-session losses, he does the job. That shows something you can't buy, which is speed.

He's also in the perfect place because his Racing Bulls team-mate Liam Lawson is a great benchmark. Lawson is driving pretty well, has been to Red Bull Racing (and I still believe was relegated too early before he had the chance to get his feet under the table), but Lindblad has shown he can beat him. That makes Lawson the perfect yardstick, one that Lindblad should be expected to be able to get ahead of if he really is something special. As a rookie, you need to come in and sometimes be ahead of a driver like that in terms of your underlying pace and that's what Lindblad is doing.

Red Bull must be very careful with him and let him develop, but it should also be very serious about him as a prospect. I would not be throwing him straight into the top team just because he has shown flashes of potential, but the objective should be to build him up to that so that Red Bull can promote him when he is needed.

We keep hearing rumours about Verstappen's future and the team needs to be preparing someone to ensure there's a driver ready to slot in if required. That's where Lindblad fits in.

So keep him at Racing Bulls, let him mature, let him really understand the objective of a given lap, a given practice session, a given race and understand what he's good at and where he needs to improve. That is what he needs now, but he's got the key ingredient because you can’t make a driver fast, but you can help them to mature.

This is why Lindblad is a step ahead of where Pierre Gasly, Lawson or Alex Albon were when they were promoted. That's not in terms of being the finished article, because he plainly is not, but in offering that combination of youth and talent relative to his experience, he's a step ahead of them.

The message to Lindblad should be simple: we don't want you next year unless there's a very unexpected vacancy, but the year after we probably will. So make sure you are in a position to raise your game whenever we need you. That is the sensible route, to let him mature at Racing Bulls, sharpen his racecraft, settle into the weekends, learn how to turn pace into results, and take the opportunities when they come.

But if Verstappen does move on, Red Bull should not panic. Judging by what Lindblad has shown already, it just might have the answer to the problem of losing the four-time world champion within its own young driver system.