Red Bull announces Max Verstappen's replacement for the 2025 F1 Mexican GP FP1

The Red Bull F1 team has recently revealed that junior driver Arvid Lindblad will drive Max Verstappen's RB21 in the Mexican GP FP1 session. Round 20 is slated to take place this week at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez Racing Circuit in Mexico City.

Arvid Lindblad is one of the hottest drivers in the junior racing circuit. This year, he has been making his trade with Campos Racing in the 2025 Formula 2 season, and with only two events remaining, he is currently in seventh place in the drivers' standings.

In line with the 18-year-old driver's announcement for driving Max Verstappen's RB21 in the Mexican GP FP1 session, the Laurent Mekies-led team has come up with a post via Instagram, and added:

"Confirming that @arvid.lindblad will drive Max’s car for FP1 at this weekend’s #MexicoGP."

Arvid Lindblad will have huge shoes to fill during the upcoming Mexican GP FP1 session. Not only will he have to showcase his skills in front of a bigger audience, but he will also have to make sure not to wreck Verstappen's car.

The reigning world champion, in recent times, has been in scintillating form during the ongoing 2025 F1 season, and he even wrapped up his fifth win during last week's United States Grand Prix.

With only five events remaining on the race calendar, Verstappen (P3) has an outside chance at the drivers' world championship. He is currently 40 points behind the leader, Oscar Piastri.

"Psychological advantage": F1 team boss on Max Verstappen's title chances

F1 Grand Prix of United States - Source: Getty

Max Verstappen has won four consecutive drivers' world championships since 2021. The ongoing ground-effect era has largely belonged to him, and it is only in 2025 that he has faced some issues because of the RB21.

While Max Verstappen is only 40 points behind Oscar Piastri in the title fight, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has come up with a fascinating take. In line with this, Wolff has talked about the McLaren duo of Piastri and Lando Norris. Via an interaction with Planet F1, Wolff has added:

"I’ve been in a similar situation with two drivers fighting for a championship, and the threat of another one catching back in the day was Max, I believe, and then it was Sebastian [Vettel] in that hunt." "So the underdog has always a little bit of an easier psychological advantage because of the probability. The odds are definitely against Max. If you look at the probability that’s very low, one DNS can change everything, and I think that affects the driving also."

In 2024, the Mexican Grand Prix was won by Carlos Sainz. Max Verstappen finished in sixth place, whereas Norris and Piastri ended up in P2 and P8. Keeping in view everything that has been discussed, several eyes will be on Verstappen in the upcoming race weekend.

Edited by Rishabh Negi