Max Verstappen to miss Mexico GP session as Red Bull trial junior

Red Bull have confirmed Max Verstappen will sit out FP1 at this weekend’s Mexico Grand Prix with Arvid Lindblad taking his place.

Lindblad is being billed as the potential future of the Red Bull team with the 18-year-old hoping to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Verstappen and his next test will come this weekend.

Max Verstappen to miss Mexico Grand Prix FP1

FIA rules mandate that teams must run a rookie in both of their cars on two occasions, totalling four for the year, and Red Bull are currently on two having swapped in Lindblad and Ayumu Iwasa for the British Grand Prix.

That number will rise to three, and potentially more, this weekend with Lindblad stepping into Verstappen’s car for FP1.

It will be just the second FP1 session for Lindblad’s career with the Briton finishing P14 at Silverstone.

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For Lindblad, it represents another chance to impress and further his claim for an F1 seat next season. Currently only Verstappen’s future is confirmed of the four Red Bull drivers with Yuki Tsunoda looking increasingly at threat of losing his seat.

While it does mean one less session of running for Verstappen, it is unlikely to affect his performance given he has raced at this circuit on nine occasions already in his F1 career.

The first of those came in 2015 with Toro Rosso and between 2021 and 2023, he put together a hat-trick of wins at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.

The Dutchman’s win in Austin, his third in the last four races, has brought him right back into title contention and he now trails championship leader Oscar Piastri by just 40 points.

On his drive in the States, Verstappen said it was a “perfect weekend.”

“Today, I think what was crucial was the first stint where I could build a bit of a gap, because I think after that, it basically stabilised pretty much after the pit stop until the end. I think tyre management was very important today, and it wasn’t very straightforward because there were some laps where you had a very different feeling or balance, grip — bit weirdly, better or worse.

“So, yeah, it’s one of those days where you just need to try and make no mistakes, try to drive it as consistent as you can, drive around the bumps as much as possible. But, yeah, for us to win again today is incredible.”

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